Into the Shadows
by newyork24-7
Summary: A mistake from her past comes back to haunt Jackie.
1. Chapter 1

**This story has been floating about in my head for what feels like forever and a day. It's based off one of my favourite episodes Hellfire.**

**I'm not 100% happy with this chapter but hopefully it will become a much stronger story as it progresses. That's the plan anyway, and I think we all know it doesn't always work that way :)**

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><p>The sun shone through the small window, lighting up a narrow strip of the dull, stained, grey carpet, making the specks of dust that were streaked through it glint almost magically; like tiny shards of gold.<p>

Greg Martin stretched out his long legs, staring at said patch almost complacently, before examining the rest of the room he'd called his home for the last eighteen months now. It was small and dingy without a doubt - a far cry from the luxury he'd been raised in - but it was most certainly a step up from his previous abode. He glanced over to the window, no bars for one thing he noted, not that the view was really anything to behold.

His mouth twisted, his fingers flexing into his palms and then out again. Twelve years he'd been locked away, caged like some sort of animal; but that was all about to change.

Long, and what had at one point been elegant fingers flicked through the pile of letters that lay on his lap. He paused when he got to the middle of the pile, where he'd placed the letters he'd written to Jackie all those years ago, when he'd first been incarcerated. As his fingertip ran across the words 'return to sender' scrawled across the now faded envelope, his expression settled into a grimace. He'd poured his heart out in that letter, proclaimed his undying love and she'd returned it to him - unopened.

It was with well practised ease that he thumbed through the remainder of the stack. After the first letter had been returned he'd simply thought that it was too soon, that her emotions were simply too raw for her to hear him out. So he'd waited a month before trying again, only to receive the exact same response in return. It had become a ritual of sorts, every month he would write, and every month his letter was returned. This sequence of events had continued until finally after almost two years, the nineteenth letter was returned with 'no longer at this address' written across it in unfamiliar writing.

He could have had his cousin track her down, find out where she was now - after all that was how he'd gotten her real address in the first place - but he hadn't. Instead a new plan began to form in his mind, the reason that his letters hadn't achieved the desired outcome was because what he needed to do was explain face to face. The events that had transpired were far too momentous to explain on paper, and he simply wasn't willing to let it go. Wasn't willing to abandon hope just yet, or ever in fact.

Love had never been an emotion he'd experienced or even understood before, but now he could feel it so closely within his reach he wasn't about to just let it go. He could still remember the way he'd felt when she'd ran for him, ignoring his calls for her to come back, decided he couldn't just let her go. So he plotted and planned, had discovered that exercise helped him focus and as result his narrower, almost rangy frame had bulked up, his hands becoming calloused. He'd always been relatively strong, but now he was even stronger and undeniably focussed on what he knew without a shadow of a doubt he wanted.

As a result of this, a plan had eventually began to form and take shape, with today being it's culmination. Today he would once again taste freedom.

The low click of his door being unlocked signified that that day had truly begun.

His plan had in all reality not taken long to design, the time consuming part had been it's preparation and execution, after all he only had one shot at this. It was better to wait and get it right, rather than fail and lose all hope. First off he realised that he needed to be trusted, and as a result this had resulted in him recently being downgraded - or dependent on the way you looked at it, upgraded - and transferred out of the category A prison he'd previously resided in, where he'd only been allowed out his cell for one hour per day. That had not been a necessary part of his plan, but it had a rather unexpected bonus.

No, the really crucial part was that he had gained the trust of those tasked with watching over him, and over the years he had achieved that.

Once he had that, he'd began to complain of headaches, they'd started small and over the period of a few weeks had apparently became crippling. He'd even claimed they'd affected his vision.

So as expected he'd been examined by the prison doctor, then had his eyes tested before being referred back again when they had - unsurprisingly - found absolutely nothing wrong with his sight. This was followed by countless blood tests, by which time he'd added the inability to eat to his repertoire - after all a few lost meals was a small price to pay in comparison to finally being a free man.

Then finally he'd got what he'd wanted all along, a referral for a CT scan at the nearest hospital. After all he thought as he got to his feet, he was honest and trustworthy, why would they suspect - even for the slightest moment - that he was faking all of it.

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><p>"Bloody waste of taxpayer's money if you ask me," Simkins snorted as he helped a handcuffed Greg into the back of the prison van. Simkins was one of the older officers, who clung firmly onto his old fashioned, more right wing views of how prisoners should be treated.<p>

Patterson, a younger and much more approachable officer, shot his colleague a wry grin as he followed him into the van and dropped onto the bench opposite. "Well it's a good thing we didn't ask you then, isn't it?" he retorted cheekily.

Greg offered the older of the pair a wane smile, as he told him quietly, "In my defence I paid more than my fair share of taxes when I was on the outside."

"Aye, but we all know you could have avoided the inheritance tax if you'd been so inclined," the older man returned shortly.

Patterson cleared his throat, a warning for him to drop the subject, and quickly. After all it was never a good idea to get a lag started on the topic of just why they had been incarcerated - it was never pretty. Although in all fairness, Greg simply did not rise to the bait, merely tilting his head, his face taking on a more pained expression.

Slightly concerned by this look, Patterson asked lowly, "You take your painkillers this morning?"

"Of course," he replied, giving a slow nod. Not that it would have made any difference if he hadn't. Still the officer wasn't to know that that the pained look had been caused by Greg's bitter reflection on the fact that he'd been caught and imprisoned, instead of one caused by an agonizing headache that he'd complained of recently.

As the van lurched to a start, Greg let his gaze drift away from the two men who had now swiftly moved onto discussing the old firm match that had taken place the previous night.

Greg's eyes glazed over slightly as he ran over his plan once more. He forced back what he knew would be a triumphant grin, by this time tomorrow he'd be free and he'd have Jackie back by his side. Life was sweet once more.

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><p>"Right!" Simkins slapped his thighs decisively only five minutes after they'd sat down in the waiting room. "I'll get the coffees and grab us a bacon roll, canteen's a bit of a trek but I shouldn't be more than about twenty minutes."<p>

Patterson nodded, calling after him, "Milk 'n three sugars."

Neither offered Greg anything, not that he cared, this was what he'd been waiting for. It was like the bulk of the prisoner's knew, the officers lived on coffee, and whenever they were required to wait anywhere it was one of the first things they dealt with. He was however slightly surprised that Simkins had went though, as normally it was the younger of the two who volunteered - not that it really mattered.

His eyes fixed on the clock, he waited only a few more minutes before he told Patterson, "Need the gents."

The younger man's mouth twisted in annoyance. "Can't you wait?"

Greg shook his head, "Afraid not, think it's the nerves."

He nodded. "Fair enough," he conceded after a moment's pause. "S'ppose we've got another half hour till your appointment, so you're not likely to miss it."

He shepherd Greg out into the long, quiet corridor, leading him into the gent's toilets. Greg suppressed another grin when he saw they were empty; perfect.

They stopped in front of the urinal and he gestured at his cuffed wrists with a nod of his head. "I don't suppose…"

Patterson pulled a face. "It's not really allowed," he mumbled, rubbing at the back of his head, lips drawn into a thin line.

"Well you're going to need to lend a hand then," Greg returned blandly.

His face paled and he fumbled slightly with the keys as he replied, "I suppose just the once…considering the circumstance 'n all."

Greg smiled gratefully. "Thanks, I appreciate it," he replied smoothly.

As the cuffs clicked open, he flexed his wrists, fingers moving to the button on his jeans. He saw the young prison officer avert his gaze, giving him the most amount of privacy he possibly could in the circumstances.

It was then he struck, he moved quickly, catching him off guard and slamming Patterson's head into the solid white tiling. He crumpled instantly to the ground, the tiles smeared with blood.

Greg stood for a brief second, simply to ensure that Patterson wouldn't be getting back up again, and that he was in fact unconscious. Then his lips curled into a smile, and turning on his heel he slipped out into the corridor and headed for freedom.


	2. Chapter 2

**I've set this story a few months after Best and Brightest, so roughly takes place in 2006**

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><p>"You promise that you're not going to hurt her?" Peter stared nervously at his cousin, his hands tightening around the envelope in his hands.<p>

"I just want to talk to her, make her see the truth. I love her," Greg replied easily, sincerely. "You do know that I'm innocent of what they accused me off, don't you?"

"Of course," he frowned at him. "It's just that I wouldn't blame you if you felt bitter about what happened."

"I don't feel bitter," he told him smoothly, "like I said I just want to talk to her."

"Then why the van?" he asked as he glanced towards the white van that sat next to the Volvo he'd picked Greg up in outside the hospital exit, driving him here. Everything set up and arranged as per his cousin's detailed instructions. He wanted to help Greg, after all he was the last family member he had and he'd had a tough ride, but at the same time he also wanted to be certain he was doing the right thing before he handed over the keys.

Greg simply offered him a wane smile. "I'm not stupid, I don't expect her to be happy to see me at first, but you don't have to worry, I'm not going to hurt her. I promise."

Peter stared at him for another minute, before finally nodding, handing over the large brown envelope containing two sets of keys and a wad of cash. Greg took it and checked that everything he'd asked for was there before he finally nodded, a smile spreading across his face. "Thanks for this."

"Not a problem," replied sincerely. "Just let me know when you have everything sorted."

"I will," Greg assured him over his shoulder, as he walked towards the van. He just had a few things to pick up that he'd been unable to ask for and then he'd be ready to go and get Jackie. Suddenly he paused, and turning back towards his cousin, he added, "Actually I might need your help with one last thing, and I need you to hear me out on this one, because you won't like it."

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><p>"No!" Jackie snapped, hitting Robbie's hand as he attempted to steal another crisp, she'd let the first three times slide, but now he was just taking the piss.<p>

"Ah, Jackie come on, I'm starving," he grumbled.

"Then you should have got your own, I even asked you if you wanted any and you said no," she pointed, her hand pressing firmly down on opening to the packet.

"I didn't want any…then."

"That doesn't mean you get to steal mine," Jackie retorted.

Robbie let out an annoyed sounding snort and slumped back in his chair, taking another mouthful of his pint.

Stuart looked between the warring pair and then towards their Boss, who just didn't appear to be listening to the pair of them anymore. He looked balefully down at his cider and sighed, "Is it just me or do we need a bit more excitement in our lives?"

Jackie looked up at him in surprise. "What's brought this on?"

He shot her an 'are you kidding' look. "We always go to the same pub and you two have resorted to arguing over crisps. I think it's time we accepted the fact that there has to be more to life than this."

Robbie chuckled. "I get plenty of excitement."

Stuart rolled his eyes. "I don't know why I bother."

"Well no-one's making you sit here," Burke told him dryly before gulping down the last of his whisky.

"I think he's more annoyed that we were his best offer," Jackie commented, laughing. That laughter quickly turned into annoyance when she found that Robbie had used the fact she was distracted to pinch the last of her crisps. "You total sod!" she told him, whacking his arm.

He simply laughed. "Tell you what I'll make it up to you and buy you chips on your way home."

"So bloody generous," she replied, trying to look as though she was still pissed off but the corners of her mouth were twitching.

Stuart sighed again, slumping back in his chair as they fell into another animated conversation. It was alright for them they had each other for company, he looked over at Burke who was examining the bottom of his glass, as though if he stared at it enough more drink would appear. It was times like these that he almost prayed for something even semi interesting to happen.

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><p>"Oh how I spoil you," Robbie sighed, grinning as he watched Jackie tuck into her chips with a happy sigh. She kicked him, making him jump and causing the small metal table they were sitting at to rattle. "Ow!" he muttered sharply.<p>

She shot him an innocent smile. "Sorry did that hurt?"

He shook his head, his grin quickly returning as he replied, "I'm confident I'll make a full recovery."

"Good, I can sleep easy tonight then." She chewed on a chip thoughtfully, and then swallowing, asked, "Do you think Stuart's alright?"

"He'll be fine," Robbie assured her. "You know what this job's like, everything's fine one minute and then you realise that your life seems to revolve around work. He'll meet up with some friends who don't work in the police, have a few drinks and all will be forgotten."

"Mmm, suppose he has a point though," she mumbled, glancing down at her rapidly cooling chips.

Robbie's head tilted as he surveyed her carefully. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Oh come on, Robbie none of us are getting any younger and what exactly do we have to show for it? Three of us are divorced and lets face it our social lives are rather lacking."

He snorted, "Speak for yourself."

"If I were you I wouldn't be so keen to promote your drunken one night stands as an example of an amazing life."

"Has this been brought on by the fact you turned the big four oh last month?" he asked cheekily, smirking at her across the table.

She glared at him. "I thought I told you not to mention that."

"You can't run from the truth," he teased.

Jackie rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying maybe it is time for a change."

"Plenty of time for change," Robbie replied, giving a casual one shouldered shrug. "We've still got years ahead of us."

"You know I don't know why I even try to have serious conversations with you," she remarked.

He laughed. "Because you know I'll cheer you up."

"I'm just trying to make the point that none of us are getting any younger."

"You've aged quite well though," he told her sincerely. "You look good for a forty year old bird."

"Utterly charming, and I don't think you've been around enough women of my age to make comparisons. You'd struggled to name five women you know over thirty."

"Ha bloody ha." He looked at her thoughtfully and then added, "Anyway it's probably better that you're single."

The chip hovered halfway to her mouth as she asked almost nervously, "Why's that?"

Leaning over and snatching the chip off her, he replied, "Because you have the worst taste in men."

Jackie swallowed back the lump of disappointment that had arisen in her throat as her result of his answer and glared at him. "It's not that bad."

"Really? Are we just going to ignore the whole Professor Murray episode then?"

"That was thee months ago, and you hardly have the moral high ground you know," she replied, a hint of teasing in her tone, somehow unable to bring herself to feel annoyed at him for bringing that up.

His face split into a wide grin. "Believe me I don't ever seem to find myself on the moral high ground."

"I can imagine it would be quite alien to you."

Chuckling, he nodded towards her now empty tray of chips. "You done?" he asked.

"Uh huh," she nodded, glancing down at her watch she winced. "Good thing too, it's almost midnight and we need to be in at eight sharp."

"The day you're late is the day I eat my hat," he told her, smiling as he shifted his leg out of the way of her on-coming kick. He helped her into her jacket, stepping back slightly he asked, "Want me to walk you home?"

Jackie shook her head. "Nah, you'd end up turning back on yourself, just going to take a taxi."

"If you're sure?"

"Positive," she replied as she grabbed her bag. Linking her arm through his, she smiled up at him as she told him, "You're more than welcome to walk me to the taxi rank though."

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><p>She got the taxi driver to drop her off at the top of her street, therefore saving him the hassle of trying to turn in her car laden street. Clamouring out of the back seat, she listened to the car roar away as she walked down the darkened street, humming a tune she'd heard in the pub underneath her breath.<p>

Hearing her phone chime the arrival of a text in her bag, she paused, rooting around for a moment before finding it. It was from Stuart, reading the message she gave a small laugh at the comment he'd sent her.

Starting to walk again she debated on whether or not she could be bothered to reply, no longer paying any attention to what was around her. After all this was the street she'd lived in for years, she knew the place like the back of her hand.

She walked past a white van and as she approached the back end of it, someone grabbed her, their hand pressing firmly against her mouth, muffling her surprised scream. Her mobile went flying as she brought her hand up in an attempt to smack her attacker one. They gave a small grunt as her foot made contact with their shin.

They dragged her backwards with surprising ease, especially considering how much of a fight she was putting up. "Shut up," she heard the low, almost familiar male voice hiss in her ear.

Unsurprisingly she didn't comply. The van doors opened and she saw a man in back, his face was strangely uncovered, he looked almost as terrified as she felt. He looked at her, and then asked the man behind her lowly, "Is this really the best idea?"

"Just do what I asked you," he replied impatiently as he heaved her into the back of the van. "You know why I need to do it this way."

Her attacker's voice tugged at her memory again and she had the most horrible feeling that she knew who this was, but it just couldn't be possible; it couldn't be.

The other man nodded, moving forward he yanked shut the van doors again before turning to her, a length of rope held in his hands. She screamed out again as she kicked her legs in an attempt to stop him. He managed to grab her ankles regardless though and tied them together.

The man behind her, propelled her forward, hand still over her mouth. She landed hard on her hands and knees, his hand wrapping around her waist. Pain jarred through her joints, shocking her long enough for the other man to grab her hands, while her attacker supported her weight. He tied them tightly and she let out a noise of pain as the rope bit into her wrists.

"Quick get the gag."

"I don't-"

"Peter, just bloody well do it! Once you've done this I can manage on my own and you're free and clear"

He nodded, looking completely out of his depth, but complying with the order nonetheless.

Finally they were done, and her attacker turned her, lowering her onto the floor as she continued to try to struggle, even with her hands and ankles tied.

Jackie stared up at his face in growing horror, her fight temporarily stopping as Greg Martin leaned towards her, his mouth brushing her ear as he told her in what she assumed was meant to be a reassuring tone, "This is only temporary, don't worry."

Choking back a frustrated sob, Jackie tried and failed to sit up as both men clamoured out the back of the car. They shut the doors on her though, leaving her alone in the pitch black, her heart racing as only seconds later the engine started and the van began to move.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is going to be the last update from me for at least a week, maybe slightly more as I move on Thursday and I'll need to wait for my internet to be connected.**

**So I hope this tides you over until then, and in the meantime I'd love to hear any opinions you have on this story :)**

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><p>Jackie wriggled in the back of the van, trying to free her wrists. Her eyes watered as the ropes rubbed at her skin, cutting bitingly into it. The van hit what she assumed was a pothole, and her body jerked, her head banging against the hard floor.<p>

She forced back a scream of frustration at her situation, no-one would hear her so it was a waste of energy to yell out against the gag just now, and she had the feeling it was better to save her strength. How the hell could this be happening? Greg was supposed to be in prison, and there was no way after what the crimes he'd committed they'd have let him out so soon.

Again the van lurched and she rolled, she tried to bring up her feet to stop her entire body from smashing against the wall, but with her ankles tied all she succeeded in doing was slamming her knees against it instead.

It felt like she was in there for hours - she very well could have been - before the vehicle drew to a halt. She heard footsteps crunch outside and she struggled, pulling herself into sitting position, trying to decide the best way to fight him.

The doors opened and Greg reached forward, trying to grab her by ankles to pull her out of the van. She let out a muffled yell and kicked her legs out at him. If anything though that just helped him, his hands enclosing around her calves and he dragged her out, she could feel the floor of the van graze the skin of her back as he did so, but still she continued to struggle.

She looked desperately around her surroundings, her heart sinking when she saw they were surrounded by woodland. Woodland that was pitch black, thanks to the fact the clouds had once again covered up the moon. Even if her ankles hadn't been tied she would have struggled to find a way out of there, although on the plus side he would have struggled to find her again.

He snatched the end of the rope that was around her wrists and used it to haul her up onto her feet, ignoring the small noise of pain she let out as the rope chaffed at her already raw skin. He held her steady as she wobbled, her centre of gravity off. Jackie let out a yell of frustration and annoyance as he hauled her over his shoulder and carried her into a small house, that sat completely on it's own.

Greg threw her down onto what she belatedly realised was a bed, the air escaping from her lungs in a sharp gasp at the force he'd used. She tilted her head back, trying to wriggle away as he yanked her back again, using the end of the rope once more, which he looped around the old wrought iron bedpost, trapping her hands above her head.

Finally he stood back, his eyes trailing over her before finally telling her coolly, "If you agree not to start screaming the place down then I'll take off the gag. Not that screaming will do you any good, I've made sure that we're in the middle of nowhere, so that no-one will find us. So if you want it off, just nod."

Jackie nodded quickly, holding her breath slightly as Greg leaned over her, untying the heavy piece of cloth before stepping back again. "Better?" he asked.

She wanted to rub her jaw, but she very obviously couldn't do that, so instead, knowing that he was looking for an answer, she replied quietly, "A bit."

He nodded, sitting down at the edge of the bed, watching her silently. Avoiding his intense gaze, Jackie looked at the man who'd torn her to pieces years ago, who'd left her mistrustful and resulted in her constantly erring on the side of caution when it came to almost every part of her life. The years had had been unfairly kind to him, despite the many years of being locked away. His dark hair was now threaded with grey, his formerly lean form bulkier, but not overly so. In any other circumstances he would have been an attractive man, but then looks and charm had always been something Greg Martin had had in abundance. Then she'd been taken in by it, fallen hook, line and sinker; now however she knew the truth and she felt sick, sick that she'd been so easily swayed by his pretty words and sick at the thought of being alone with him.

Greg's finger ran over the rope that bound her ankles as he looked at it thoughtfully, and Jackie couldn't help but jerk away, the action causing another smarting of pain to burst through her wrists. "Don't do that," he told her calmly. "You'll just hurt yourself."

She eyed him nervously, normally when she was facing down some murderous lunatic she at least had the use of her limbs. "Shouldn't you still be in prison?"

A wry smile played about his mouth, although his eyes stayed blank and humourless. "I decided that I'd spent enough time behind bars. You know the prison officers really should be more careful when doling out privileges," he told her easily.

"You escaped," she muttered needlessly.

"I suppose you could put it like that, I prefer to think of it as regaining my rightful freedom." He reached forward to brush a strand of hair off her cheek, and she jerked her head away. But she couldn't move far and undeterred he continued to stroke his hand over her skin. "Anyway I had things to deal with out here. You know I've waited twelve years for this moment, to see you again."

Jackie swallowed against the lump in her throat. "Why would you want to see me again?" she muttered croakily, still trying to shuffle away from his touch, it made her stomach crawl.

"To talk to you, you never did give me a chance to explain. We were going to get married and you just walked away from me." This time she could hear the bitterness in his tone, the anger and the resentment that had no doubt built over the years.

"I never actually said yes when you proposed," she tried to point out.

He chuckled under his breath. "Ah, but we both know that if the truth hadn't came out then you would have done. You loved me, I know you did."

"Exactly, did," she replied. "And I loved the man I thought you were, not the murdering bastard you turned out to be," she snapped at him, her voice hard and determined now.

Greg's face darkened for a second before clearing again. "You always were fiery, one of the many things I love about you. Even though I suspect that's why you'd never hear me out."

"I didn't hear you out because you were as guilty as sin!"

"I had my reasons."

"Yeah you wanted your inheritance, didn't want to have to wait for them to die naturally."

His face contorted with annoyance. "I would probably still be waiting now, they would have clung on, keeping me under the thumb, expecting me to keep working in the family business for a pittance. What use would that money have been to me by the time they died? I wouldn't have been able to enjoy it."

"They were your parents!"

"I do regret having to do that to my Mum," he admitted. "But I made sure she didn't suffer, that she didn't feel a thing. As for my father, that man was a bastard, cold and unfeeling, no one missed him when he died."

"That doesn't make what you did right, and what about the other two people you murdered?"

His mouth twitched. "They were Satanists, hardly a great loss to society."

"Derek Skimming was sixteen years old, a confused teenager who didn't deserve what you did to him."

"It's a dog eat dog world," came the simple reply.

"In other words you needed a scapegoat."

Greg sighed, his hand still stroking down her cheek in what she assumed was meant to be a comforting action, in reality it just made her feel sick. "You're angry, and I can understand that," he answered. "But I did what I had to do."

Jackie took in a deep shaky breath. "You didn't have to do any of it," she told him firmly. "But since you've explained your _reasons_, so you can let me go now."

He shook his head, causing her heart to sink as he told her, "I'm not going to do that, I love you-"

"You wouldn't know love if it smacked you in the face," she snapped back. "You're incapable of it."

"No, not incapable," he breathed out. "You made me feel it, from the very first minute, you intrigued me, so unlike the other women I'd dated. I'd have done anything for you, and do you know you were the first person who didn't want me to change, who accepted me for the man I was…at least I thought you did. You know that I wrote to you."

"I know."

"And you never once bothered to reply, you didn't even open the envelopes."

"Did you really expect me to?"

"I had hoped, but then I realised that it was better for me to explain to you face to face, so that you had to hear me out. After that I knew we'd be able to start again."

"Start again?" she asked worriedly.

"Yes, a new life, together," he told her, a smile now pulling at his lips.

"There's no way in hell," she told him firmly.

"You're just angry, you'll come round," he replied in what she was sure was supposed to be a reassuring tone. "You'll remember what we had, and you'll realise that I really do love you."

"No I won't, so save yourself the effort and untie me!"

"I can't do that. I'm not going to risk you running away from me again, and just so you're aware, we're in the middle of nowhere, so if you do manage to escape you'll just end up lost, and believe me no-one will ever find you." He got to his feet and asked casually, as though she were a guest and not his captive, "Would you like me to get you a drink?"

Jackie shook her head. "I'm not taking anything from you," she told him firmly. "If you think I'm going to give you the chance to slip something in there, then you're even more insane than I thought."

Greg looked at her, affronted. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"You'll excuse me if I don't believe you, considering you doped your own mother," she replied.

Cold anger flashed across his features. "Fine," he hissed. "See how long you can go without for. I'm going out for some air."

With that he stormed out of the house, she heard the front door slam heavily behind him. For a moment she just lay and looked at the ceiling, trying to stop herself from hyperventilating. Then finally, when she felt a bit calmer, she tilted her head back to look at the knots of the rope, trying to figure her way out of here.

* * *

><p>"No Jackie yet?" Robbie asked in surprise as he dropped into the chair at his desk at twenty past eight the next morning.<p>

Stuart looked up and shook his head. "Not yet." A frown played across his features, "she didn't have a lot to drink last night either, and anyway it's not like her to be late."

The older detective shrugged. "Had to happen sometime I suppose. Did she not even call?"

"Nope. The Boss won't be happy."

"No change there then," Robbie laughed, switching on his computer and flicking through the papers that had been placed on his desk for his attention.

Only moments later, Burke himself appeared out of his office, looking even more irritated than usual. His eyes scanned over to room before he barked, "Where's Jackie?"

Robbie and Stuart shared a look, neither one wanted to be the one to drop their friend in it, especially since she never normally pulled stunts like this, and it was just her bad luck that the day it happened was the day Burke was obviously in a bad mood. Finally Stuart answered, "Looks like she's running late."

Burke let out an annoyed huff of air through his nostrils, causing them to flare slightly. "All I need," he mumbled.

"Problem?" Robbie asked, looking up at the older man.

"Just had a phone call from a DCI McDade of Central Scotland police, he wants to talk to me about something, wouldn't say what. Should be here in half an hour."

Robbie frowned. "Why would Central want to see you, we don't have any current cases that involve them, or even overlap on their patch."

"I know," Burke snarled in annoyance. "I want you in there with me though, Robbie," he told him. He had a horrible feeling that this meeting would bring nothing but bad news, unexpected ones always did, so he wanted some backup in there.

The younger man simply nodded. "Not a problem," he assured Burke.

"Good, and let me know when Jackie finally turns up."

They watched as Burke headed back into his office, mumbling irritably about making up some more of the rotas. Stuart looked over at Robbie. "Jackie picked the wrong day to sleep in."

"Yeah." He glanced at his watch again, frowning, "she did." He sat back in his chair as Stuart got back to work, something about this was bothering him. "Did you call her?" he asked suddenly.

"Uh huh, no answer. She could be stuck in traffic though."

"Could be."

* * *

><p>Jackie didn't sleep, didn't even attempt it. After all she didn't trust Greg as far as she could throw him. Much to her disgust however, he lay down on the bed next to her as though it was the most normal thing in the world and fell asleep.<p>

She spent the rest of the night trying to figure out a way to free herself, while at the same time trying to ease some of the pressure the ropes were exerting on her wrists.

Eventually the morning sun began to seep in through the thin netted curtains, and Greg stirred, yawning as he woke up. Sitting up he looked down at her, asking, "I'm assuming you don't trust me enough to go to sleep in my presence either?"

She didn't reply, merely glowered at him.

"Do you need to get up?" he asked. "There's a bathroom through that door." Jackie wanted to tell him no, tell him to fuck off, but she was actually verging on desperate now. He could obviously see her dilemma and he taunted her with, "If you don't answer me then I'm not exactly going to be inclined to help."

"Yes," she finally hissed.

"Right, I'll untie your ankles first then, but I'm telling you know that if you kick me then I'll tie you back up and leave you until you come to your senses, however long that'll take."

Jackie nodded, her eyes watering as she felt him finally untie her ankles and she flexed her stiff joints gently, wincing as she caught sight of the red rings that circled her skin, still at least it hadn't actually cut through the skin. She felt him undo the knot that attached her to the bed, while keeping the knots that held her wrists together in place, using the end of the rope to pull her into sitting position.

As she swung her legs over the side of the bed she asked hopefully, "Can you undo my wrists?"

He laughed as though she'd told him a joke. "I'm afraid not, I haven't quite forgotten the last time we fought and you smacked me over the head with a weight. You might have got away that time, you won't again."

"How do you expect me to be able to do anything with my bloody hands tied?" she asked exasperated.

"I'm sure you'll find a way." He helped her to her feet, holding her steady until the pins and needles that wracked her legs finally subsided. Then he let her go, pushing her slightly in the direction of the door. "It doesn't lock. You have five minutes and then I'll be coming in to get you."

She nodded to show that she understood. Stepping into the small room she was devastated to see that the window was far too small for her to even attempt to wiggle through. Somehow though she managed to manoeuvre around the room, doing what she had to.

As she washed her hands, dropping the stupid bar of soap into the sink as she did so, she tried to examine the knots, looking for a weakness. Unfortunately unless she figured out how to bend her wrists backwards she was scuppered in that respect. She could also see that the ropes were already beginning to cut into the skin, probably due to all her struggling. But she couldn't just give up, there had to be a way out of here.

She'd just have to take her chance and charge him when he let her out. She figured that even with her hands tied together that if she took her time then she'd be better off out there than in here with a sociopath who liked to kill people just so he could get what he wanted.

Jackie turned as the door creaked open, and before Greg could grab hold of the rope again, she brought her arms up and belted him across the face with them, causing him to falter, falling sideways, his hand stretching out to steady himself on the wall as he let out a loud yell of pain and anger.

Taking the chance, Jackie fled past him, heading for the door. It was locked but the key was still in it. She tried to angle her wrists so she could turn it, but she just couldn't do it quick enough.

Greg was behind her in seconds, dragging her away from the door as she yelled blue murder. He slammed her back against the wall, his face twisted in rage, his skin red where she'd smacked him. His hands closed round her throat, and she desperately tried to bring her hands up to push him away as he tightened his grip around her neck.

"I told you not to try that!" He yelled at her. "I warned you."

Jackie let out a choking noise as she tried to fight him off. His fingers simply pressed harder and she felt her vision begin to blur around the edges, his face fading in and out of focus.

If she'd been able to see him properly she would have seen his face suddenly change, and he let her go, catching her as she almost fell to the floor, her hands going to her neck as she pulled in great big gasping breaths of air. He grabbed her and hauled her to her feet while she was still too stunned to speak, throwing her wordlessly back on the bed and tying the end of the rope back around the bedpost.

Turning her head, her breathing still heavy, she watched him pace the floor, his hands running through his hair. Finally he turned, dropping down on the bed next her again, leaning over her. His fingers reached out, brushing against her throat. "You're going to bruise," he murmured. His head dropped slightly, his mouth about to press against her forehead in a conciliatory gesture when she drew back as far as she could. "I understand that you're upset," he continued, "but you can't act like that, you need to stay here, with me."

"I want to go home," she told him through gritted teeth, still shaken by the way he'd turned on her, although not that surprised.

"This is going to be our home, we'll live here for a year or so, just the two of us until I've been forgotten about. But I need to be able to trust you before I can untie you, and you've just set back gaining that trust by quite a bit. So don't think I'll fall for any act you try and pull."

"You're deluded, and I want nothing to do with you," Jackie replied sharply.

His nostrils flared in annoyance. "Then you'll be there for quite sometime, at least until you learn to play nice."

* * *

><p>Robbie looked up as a rather down beaten, grey haired man walked into the office, looking around himself. "Can I help you?" he asked, getting to his feet.<p>

The man nodded. "I'm DCI McDade of Central Scotland Police, I'm here to speak to a DCI Burke."

Extending his hand and shaking it in greeting, Robbie replied, "DI Ross, I'll be sitting in with you."

"Fine," the man sighed, not looking he slightest bit put out by this news.

He led him to Burke's office, knocking and waiting for Burke to summon them in. when he did he stepped inside, telling him, "DCI McDade's here, Sir."

Burke got to his feet, shaking the man's hand. "It's good to meet you, please take a seat."

"Thank you," he replied, lowering himself into the seat opposite, while Robbie moved to behind Burke's desk, leaning casually against the wall.

"So, what can we do for you," Burke asked.

"I'd like to speak to one of you officers, but the nature of the questions are somewhat sensitive, so I thought it was only polite that I run them by you first."

"What officer and what about?"

"A DS Jacqueline Reid. Yesterday just after lunchtime, we had a prisoner of Glenochil prison escape from Stirling Royal Infirmary, where he was supposed to be undergoing medical tests. He left one of the officers in intensive care, and it's doubtful that he'll pull through, so you can understand that we're anxious to catch him."

"What's his name and what was he in for?" Robbie asked, frowning at him, unable to see just where Jackie came into this.

"Greg Martin, and double murder, his parents, killed them for his inheritance, he was tried for another two murders but a jury felt there just wasn't enough evidence to convict him."

"I don't see what this has to do with my DS," Burke growled.

"I'm getting to that," the man assured him. "When we searched his cell, we found letters addressed to DS Reid. At first we assumed it was due to the fact that she was involved in the case, but then went through his case files with a fine toothed comb. There was no mention of a DS Reid having been involved in the case, and when we opened the letters they weren't what we were expected."

"Meaning?" Burke asked irritably.

"Put simply they were love letters that he had written to her and she had returned unopened. They're old letters, the last one dated a good ten years ago, but he appears to have kept them all, and another prisoner also let slip that Greg had spoken a few times about a woman he was involved with."

Robbie snorted. "You don't seriously think that Jackie's involved with this guy?"

"I think that I don't want to make assumptions and so I want to talk to her, face to face."

Burke's lips narrowed and he shared a concerned look with Robbie as he replied, "DS Reid is late today, coming up on an hour."

McDade's eyes narrowed. "Is this normal for her?"

"No, but she was with one of us at all times until midnight last night so she can't have been involved with his escape."

"I'm not saying she was, but I don't like the fact that she just happens to not turn up to work the day after he does a runner."

"We'll head out to her flat," Burke told him. "Most likely she's slept in, and this is a nasty coincidence, and after that I'm sure that she can clear up any misunderstanding regarding this Mr Martin."

"I hope so," McDade replied. "I sincerely do."

* * *

><p>Slamming his fist against Jackie's door, Robbie glanced towards Burke, his anxiety growing by the second. "I have her spare key in my pocket, got it from Stuart."<p>

"Phone her mobile first," Burke told him, his expression unfathomable.

Robbie nodded, hitting her contact and waiting as the phone connected, frowning when he realised he could hear it ringing. He ran down Jackie's front steps, Burke hot on his heels as he followed the sound to a bush only a few feet away from her front door.

Reaching into it, he rummaged around, his heart sinking when his fingers enclosed around Jackie's phone and he pulled it free, holding it up to show Burke as he disconnected his call.

Burke's mouth narrowed as he told him firmly, "Open that bloody door."

Robbie did as he was asked without argument or preamble, unlocking the door and quickly checking each and every room for signs of life, Burke doing the same.

After a few minutes, the two men looked at each other, with Robbie voicing the obvious, panic setting into his bones as he spoke, "Place is empty, Boss, no sign of her."


	4. Chapter 4

**You're only getting this because I've invested in a dongle until my net is up and running. **

**And I've not had the best week, so I would love a review because they really do make me smile :)**

* * *

><p>Burke's lips thinned, a scowl etched on his features as he surveyed Jackie's immaculate but very definitely empty living room. He nodded towards the phone that Robbie still had clenched in his fist, asking. "Anything unusual on it?"<p>

"Haven't checked," he admitted. He hadn't really wanted to start looking through Jackie's phone if he had any choice in the matter, which apparantly he didn't. "I'll do it now though," he added quickly.

"Good," Burke muttered, as he glanced around the room. Moving out of the living room and leaving Robbie to it, he walked through the hall, checking the front door carefully for any signs of forced entry. There weren't any, and despite the fact that it still left them with very little to go on, Burke couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Although the abandoned phone continued to concern him. Hearing Robbie move behind him, he asked without turning round, "Anything?"

"The screen was still on a reply to a text from Stuart."

"What time did he send it?"

"Eleven minutes to one, about ten, maybe fifteen minutes after I saw her into the taxi." Robbie let out a hiss of air from between his teeth. "I should have insisted on walking her home."

"No point in blaming yourself, we don't even know what's happened, and either way it's not your fault," Burke told him calmly.

"You think it's got something to do with this Greg Martin character?"

"Too much of a coincidence for it not to," he muttered. "Right I want you to phone Stuart, I don't want to hang around on this one. I want the bushes and the flat searched for the bag she had with her last night, so we can try and determine if she even made it into the flat last night."

"I'll call the taxi company she took home last night, get hold of the driver."

"And you saw her into the taxi?"

"Course I did, least I could do after she damn well refused to let me walk her," Robbie scowled at the thought. He felt thrown by this, it was quite literally the last thing he'd ever thought could happen. Jackie disappearing and at the moment without a trace was just surreal to him, and knowing what he did in this line of work he was petrified that she might not be found. He shook his head, he couldn't think about that possibility, he needed to see her again, couldn't imagine his life without her in it. He scrubbed his hand over his jaw. "This isn't good, is it?" he muttered.

Burke stared at him for a moment, his expression grave even for him, finally he replied, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, we don't know anything yet, don't forget that."

"Believe me I won't," Robbie replied, although he didn't hold the same opinion as Burke, he hated having nothing to go on, at least if they had something to go on then they might have a head start.

* * *

><p>Jackie's flat was swarming with officers now, Burke watched them with beady eyes, barking out instruction or reprimands, whatever he felt was deserved. Hearing a low tutting noise behind him, he turned to see DCI McDade standing behind him, his expression stony, lips set into a grim, straight line. "Doesn't look good, does it?" he commented.<p>

Burke's eyes narrowed. "Meaning?"

"Well there's no signs of a struggle, she could have taken the opportunity to disappear with Martin-"

Burke was about to protest when Robbie's angry voice cut across McDade's word's, as unbeknownst to the two men he'd been standing in the doorway, listening to them. "Jackie would never run off with that murdering lunatic!" He stepped forward, his face contorted slightly as the anger rolled off him in waves. "And I don't care about what those letters said, they were from him, not from her. You don't have a shred of evidence that suggests that she's run off with him."

"We can't rule it out as a possibility," McDade replied calmly, unperturbed by the passionate defence. "He did have outside help to escape, that we know for sure."

Robbie stepped forward almost menacingly, his eyes glinting as he ground out, "You don't know Jackie, she would never, _ever_ have helped him in any way shape or form."

Burke's hand shot out, hitting against Robbie's chest as a warning for him to stop as the irate man attempted to move even closer to McDade, he was also slightly concerned that Robbie might lamp the detective one. His own eyes swivelled onto the other DCI as he barked, "What do you mean you know he had help?"

"Security footage showed him getting into a car that was waiting for him in the drop off bay outside one of the exits, and before you ask the license plate was obscured. All we know is the make of the car."

"And you didn't think to mention this?" Burke snarled in annoyance.

"At that point in time in wasn't pertinent that you knew."

"Make of car?" he asked shortly.

" An old Renault Clio, from the style of the car we think about ten years old, and we also reckon it's most likely been ditched by now."

"Well Jackie was working all day yesterday," Robbie told McDade shortly. "And before you ask no she couldn't have slipped away."

"There's no need to be so unpleasant, DI Ross, I'm simply doing my job and covering all the possible angles." He rocked backwards on his feet for a moment before he asked, "Did you hear back from the taxi firm that dropped her off?"

Robbie let out an annoyed hiss of air from between his clenched teeth, the man's unflappable attitude and almost patronizing air was getting to him. "Yeah, they're going to call the driver back to their offices, I'm about to head round there just now."

"Good," Burke replied, turning away from McDade, irritation etched across his features as he watched Robbie storm from the flat, slamming the door and causing a young pc to jump out of their skin.

Only seconds after Robbie had left, Stuart rushed through the front door, his face flushed pink, his tone breathless as he told the two senior officers, "We found something."

"What?"

Stuart held up a set of keys. "They're Jackie's, I recognize the key-ring."

"Where did you find them?"

"In the bushes, near to where you and Robbie found her phone."

Burke's eyes flashed as he muttered, "So she definitely didn't make it into the flat then." He turned to McDade and snarled, "Is this enough proof that my officer isn't voluntarily involved?"

* * *

><p>Neil Brogan looked nervously up at the Detective Inspector who had just been let into the manager's office, that his boss had vacated for the occasion. The man didn't look happy, and Neil was raking through his brain to try and figure out what this could possibly be about, unfortunately he was coming up blank. He cleared his throat nervously, "What is it you wanted me for? Boss said you wouldn't tell him over the phone…only I dunno what it is that you could want from me."<p>

Robbie leaned across the desk, deciding rather quickly against sitting, deciding that it was better to capitalize on the man's obvious fear, might get him the answers he wanted that little bit quicker. "You picked up a fare last night at the taxi rank outside Central Station at about half twelve-"

The man nodded quickly, "Yeah I remember, last night was pretty quiet, being so early on in the week, so I didn't have a lot of fares last night. A woman, late thirties I reckon, dropped her off in a street in the West-end. Why?"

"She's went missing, at the moment you're the last person to have seen her. So I need to know everything that you saw."

Neil's jaw dropped, this wasn't good, in fact it was a taxi drivers worst nightmare. A woman going missing after getting into their car. "I swear to God that I just dropped her off at the address she gave me."

"Tell me about the journey," Robbie told him, his voice even, the tone bordering on dark and dangerous.

He shrugged. "Not much to tell." His face screwed up slightly as he tried to recall that particular fare. "I picked her up at the taxi rank, there was a man with her, didn't see his face though, it was too dark. But I reckon he was about your height and build. He opened the door for her, saw him kiss her cheek as they said goodbye, she told him she'd see him in the morning." He pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger as he tried to dreg up some more memories. "We had some small talk on the way to her address, I can't remember the street name off the top of my head but I'll have a note of it somewhere."

"What did you talk about?"

"Just asked her if she'd had a good night, she asked me if I'd been busy, the usual taxi chat. Then I dropped her off and that was that."

"And you took her right to her door?" Robbie asked, trying to visualize what might have happened the night before.

Neil looked up at him, swallowing nervously as he replied, "No actually, I didn't. The street was crowded and would have been a nightmare to turn in, there was even a bloody great big white van on one side of the road; so she told me I could just drop her at the top of the street."

Robbie's eyes widened. "Did you see anything else before you drove off?"

"No, checked my mirror as I drove away and she was walking down the street, looked like she had her phone out."

"What about this van, did you see anything unusual about it? Anyone hanging around it? Get a licence plate number?"

Neil Brogan shook his head, shrinking back in his chair as Robbie leaned across the desk, his eyes searching his. "Noth…nothing," he stammered. "It was just there, and it was too dark to really see anything. Look that's all I saw," he insisted. "Believe me I'd have told you if I saw anything else, I swear to God."

Robbie's eyes searched the now profusely sweating Neil Brogan's face, and he could tell instantly that the man's nervousness didn't stem from the fact he was hiding something but rather the fear that he was going to face the blame. Letting out an irate sigh, Robbie told him, "Here's my card, take it, and if you think of anything, anything at all that might be useful in any way shape or form then don't hesitate to contact me."

"I won't…I mean I will…contact you that is."

"Make sure you do."

As Robbie left the building, he rummaged in his jacket pocket for his phone making quick work of phoning Burke to tell him about the van. After that was done, he slumped against the wall and light a cigarette, his hands shaking slightly as he tried not to imagine somebody grabbing Jackie and forcing her into a van.

He didn't know how to deal with this, he felt like he should have been able to prevent this somehow, if only he'd walked her home then he might have been able to stop this guy. If something happened to her then he didn't know how he'd cope, she was his confidant, his closest friend. And if he was to be entirely honest with himself he knew that she was much more than that to him, that he loved her.

The cigarette dropped from suddenly numb fingers, it was the first time he'd ever allowed himself to accept those words, to even let himself finish thinking them. After all in the face of what had happened, the reasons he'd always given himself for hiding how he felt, or just downright denying his feelings.

The truth was it had been Jackie from almost the moment he'd met her, the initial flame of attraction growing and developing, quickly becoming so much more. And yet he'd never quite been able to make himself accept it. He had acted on the attraction at first, but he'd fucked it up and double booked, a fact that made him cringe now just thinking about it. After that she'd drawn away from him slightly, still flirting but it was obvious her mind was elsewhere, and before he'd had a chance to think through his options, she'd been with Brian. Then when that had ended they'd been so close, and their friendship had meant so much to him that he hadn't wanted to do anything that might jeopardize that. So he'd left it, and instead pushed his feelings to one side. He wished he hadn't done that now.

If he lost her now he didn't know what he'd do, go mad most likely. At that thought, he shook his head, he couldn't think like this.

He stared down at the smouldering cigarette butt with grim determination, he was going to find her. Grounding the heel of his shoe into it, he extinguished the last of the orange glow it was emitting as he decided that once he'd got Jackie back he was going to nail the son of a bitch who took her to the wall.

* * *

><p>"Got a development," Burke informed Stuart as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. "The taxi driver who dropped Jackie off last night left her at the top of the street, and told Robbie that there was a white van parked in the middle of the street. I want you to go round the neighbours, see whether or not they saw this van, see if they got any details from it, so we can check it out."<p>

"You think he was waiting on her?" Stuart asked in concern, his already pale face paling even further.

"It looks like that."

McDade snorted. "You're looking for a zebra instead of a horse," he told them. "The most simple answer is normally the correct one, it's all the more likely that she's went off with him of her own free will."

"Bollocks!" Burke yelled at him, finally turning on the other man. "My DS has not run off with some psychotic murdering piece of shit! Now I suggest that if you want this station's continued support you keep that opinion to yourself because DS Reid is a well respected officer with fifteen years experience in CID alone and believe me no-one will take kindly to your suggestions."

"I'll keep that in mind," McDade replied coldly. "In the meantime I have a few phone calls of my own to make."

Burke shook his head as he watched the DCI walk out of the flat. "Arrogant sod," he muttered to himself before turning back to Stuart and snapping, "Well what are you waiting for? Those neighbours aren't going to ask themselves you know." As Stuart turned to leave, rolling his eyes at his Boss, Burke had a sudden thought and called him back, asking, "Were you ever involved in this Greg Martin case?"

"No, Jim Taggart was the main investigating officer, and he was off sick by the time I started working there It was probably one of his last cases though, going from the dates."

"You ever hear anyone mention him?"

"Nope, never. Sorry," Stuart added, because he was, he desperately wanted to be of more help. After all this was Jackie they were talking about.

* * *

><p>Stuart sighed as he knocked on yet another door, so far Jackie's neighbours may have noticed a van but they were more than a little vague on the timings or indeed on any of the details on the van, including make and model. It was frustrating to say the least.<p>

An ash blonde head peered round the edge of the door, beady blue eyes staring at him as the woman behind the door, asked him suspiciously, "What you wantin'?"

He flashed her his badge. "DC Fraser, I'd like to ask you a few questions about a vehicle that was in the vicinity last night."

The door opened fully, an interested glint now shining in the woman's eyes. "Oh right, why's that then? What's the driver supposed to have done?"

"At this moment in time we're simply trying to decide whether or not it's presence is pertinent to our enquiries."

"Oh." She looked disappointed at the lack of gossip but seemed to recover quickly, folding her arms across herself as she asked him, "Well what's this vehicle you want to know about then?"

"A white van was reported to have been parked along the kerbside around midnight last night."

"That's right," she replied. "a white Ford Transit, never seen it before," she remarked casually, fumbling in her dressing gown pocket for a packet of cigarettes.

Stuart felt slightly hopeful this time as he asked, "What time did you see it at?"

"First spotted it yesterday just before five, and then it drove off just before one am."

"Did you see it drive off?" Stuart asked hurriedly.

"I did," she confirmed. "I was watching a film and heard a bit of a commotion, the doors slamming and thought I heard someone yell. Thought someone might have hit them, so I went to the window to look outside, and all I saw was them driving off."

"You get a look at the license plate, or the driver?"

"Yeah, the start of the plate was HR21, and there was two men, one dark haired and one with sandy hair, kind of balding. Saw them when I took the dog out."

"Do you think if we provided photographs then you could pick these men out?"

The woman nodded slowly, as she lit her cigarette and took a draw of it. "Aye, reckon I could," she replied.

"That would be a great help to us," Stuart told her honestly. He finally felt like he was getting somewhere and those small details could potentially help them.

"Not a problem," she told him. "Just call us if you need those photos looking at."

"I'll probably be in touch again within the next hour or so."

"Sure, I'll be in," she replied, before shuffling back into the house and closing the door behind herself.

Stuart all but skipped down the front steps, before running across the street and up the ones leading to Jackie's front door, bumping into Burke along the way. "I've got something," he informed him.

"Well spit it out then!"

"The woman in the ground floor flat across the way was able to give me a partial license plate and a description of the two men who were in the front. She's pretty sure that she could ID them again from photos. She also heard a bit of a commotion at the time we know Jackie was dropped off at before she saw the van drive off." He looked at Burke's grim expression and added, "surely this is good news, we know a bit more about what happened and we have a lead."

"Stuart what we know for sure now is that Jackie's been abducted and that with every hour that goes by our chances of finding her alive significantly decrease."

The younger detective's face fell, he hadn't really considered that.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm so sorry," Greg muttered, his fingers tracing over the painful marks on her neck.

Jackie knew without a shadow of a doubt that her skin would be bruised, her neck hurt even when he wasn't touching it, and it hadn't even been that long since he'd throttled her.

His earlier anger from then had faded again, leaving him once more contrite, and trying to make amends. She sighed, turning her head away from him. "So you keep telling me."

"Because I truly am, I didn't want to hurt you."

"I just made you angry," she repeated numbly, having heard those words over and over again.

"You did, but regardless it won't happened again," he tried to assure her.

"You've said that as well."

"And I mean it," he told her, leaning forward as he tried to cajole her into turning her head. When she refused he tightened his grip on her chin and wrenched her face round so that she was looking at him. Her eyes watered slightly at the pain that ricocheted through her already sore neck muscles, as she felt his fingers bite into and no doubt bruise even more of her skin. The fingers of his other hands brushed through her hair, his eyes ruthlessly ignoring the way she winced when he touched her. "Everything will be fine," he assured her.

If she could have, she would have laughed at the irony, with one hand he was hurting her and with the other trying to soothe away her troubles. She wanted nothing more than to shut her eyes and make it all stop, make it all go away. Never in her life had she wanted to give up before, but now she did. "Just let me go," she got out through gritted teeth, hating the desperate tone in her own voice.

"That can't happen," he told her coldly, his hand moving from her hair to down her cheek, making her feel physically sick as he caressed her skin. "I will give you everything else you want though, I can make you happy."

"No you can't."

His hand shuddered at that, his fingers twitching as his jaw clenched in annoyance, his nostrils flaring as he bit out in a clipped tone, "You might think that now, but things will change. They will," he added determinedly. He stood up, staring down at her, his tone becoming altogether more pleasant as he asked her, "Would you like something to eat or drink? You must be starving."

"I've already told you that I'm not taking anything from you," she replied dully.

Again his features twisted, anger contorting them. He let out an annoyed huff of air as he leaned closer to her, hissing at her, "Fine, but you can be sure that if you won't take anything from me then you won't be getting anything at all!"

If her shoulders hadn't been so stiff from being tied to the bedposts, she would have shrugged, feigning indifference, but since it hurt so much she just turned her face away from his again. After a moment he sighed and got to his feet, walking away from her.

Wriggling slightly on the bed, trying to get as comfortable as possible, Jackie listened to Greg batter around in the small kitchen area of the room next door. A few more minutes and she felt the bed dip again, saw a glass of water being dangled down in front of her eyes. "You need to drink something," he told her.

She shook her head, telling him through gritted teeth, "I've already told you I'm not taking anything from you."

A low growl escaped from him. "I haven't put anything in it."

"You'll excuse me if I don't rush to believe you."

Greg let out a loud yell of annoyance, throwing the water across the room, the glass shattering against the floor, the plate and food following suit. Jackie jumped despite herself, wishing she hadn't when the sudden movement caught Greg's eye and he walloped his closed fist against her cheek. "Stubborn bitch!" he hissed, before turning and storming outside once more, the door bouncing off it's hinges as he slammed it behind himself.

Jackie closed her eyes for a moment as she listened to him kick objects outside. She wanted to cry but she was determined not to give him the satisfaction.

* * *

><p>"What I don't understand," Stuart remarked as he flicked through the sheaves of paper relating to the original case against Greg Martin in his search for more information. "Is why Jackie isn't mentioned in any of this, she would have been a DS by then, and she should have been involved in the case. There was no way she couldn't have been in fact."<p>

Robbie shrugged, his fingers drumming agitatedly against the desk, annoyed that his search for the van had so far thrown up nothing apart from the fact it had stolen plates. The plate that was on it was registered to a car that had supposedly been sold for scrap by the owners, and it appeared from the paperwork at said scrap yard that the car had indeed been taken apart. They reckoned though that the plates had been stolen from the yard one night, they'd noticed some plates missing one morning, but the owner hadn't thought it a big enough deal to bother reporting it.

He was beyond irritated, he was jumpy and it didn't help that he knew that in these cases that every single minute was crucial, and for them every minute just seemed to drag by, with dead ends cropping up everywhere. "Maybe she wasn't involved, maybe she was working another case at the time," he ground out.

Stuart frowned. "She couldn't have been though, because otherwise how would Martin ever have met her? He could only have met her through the case, I mean she's not even listed as one of the investigating officers. It just doesn't make any sense."

Robbie growled, his fists clenching. "Then ask one of the investigating officers involved."

"Can't, Jim Taggart and Mike are both dead. I looked into finding a DC Rob Green, but he left the force and emigrated to Australia nine years ago."

"They took over the case, ask the original investigating officer," he suggested.

"Can't, Bill Scott is in a nursing home with dementia, the only person who know the answer is Jackie, and she isn't here."

Robbie slammed his fist against his desk. "You think I don't know that!" He kept looking over at her desk and felt his stomach twist as it came back to him that she wasn't about to shoot him a cheeky smile over the top of her PC screen. He pressed his fingertips into his temples, trying to dispel from his mind the possibility that he might never see that smile again. "There has to be someone who knows something," he got out.

"But who?"

Robbie lifted his head out of his hands slightly as a thought occurred to him. "Taggart was married, wasn't he?"

"Yeah," Stuart replied slowly, unable to see where Robbie was going to take this.

"Well think about it, when you're in a relationship, a serious one anyway, you tell your wife, partner…whatever, about your work. If there was a reason why they kept Jackie out of the paperwork then just maybe Taggart told his wife about it."

Stuart's eyes brightened slightly. "Yeah, he could have done," he breathed out.

"So find out if she's still alive and get an address. If she's still alive she'll be receiving a widow's pension and she'll be traceable through that."

"On it," Stuart told him quickly, typing away determinedly as Robbie watched him intently, leaning over on his chair, his foot now joining in with his fingers in the task of tapping away, his knee jiggling impatiently.

"Come on!" Robbie snapped. "We don't have time for this."

"I've almost got it," Stuart replied, a concentrated frown on his face. The briefest of smiles flickered across his features as he amended himself, "Here it is now. Jean Taggart is still alive and still living in Glasgow, got the address, it's over in the West-end, but shouldn't take us more than a half hour to get there."

Jumping to his feet, Robbie grabbed his jacket. "I'll get the car started and you go let Burke know where we're going, I'll meet you downstairs in two minutes. Take any longer and I'll leave without you " he promised him.

* * *

><p>Burke eyed McDade distastefully as the man lounged against his filling cabinet. "Surely," he ground out. "You had more leads than just my DS."<p>

"Considering the evidence she was our main suspect," he admitted dryly.

"What evidence!" Burke spat out. "You had a pile of ten year old love notes and that was it."

"Aye, between a convict and a police officer who according to police files should never have met him. That points to a cover up."

"Which we're looking into," Burke told him firmly. "My officers are out following up on why that is as we speak. But right now we need to find out who the second man in that van was, because it's likely that he's the one who helped Martin escape."

"There is a cousin," he admitted almost reluctantly. "Who used to visit him."

"Have you brought him in for questioning?"

"No, not yet."

Burke felt his blood boil. "Then don't you think you should, if he's our guy and he's not done a runner then we can put him in an ID parade."

"I'll send someone round."

Getting to his feet, Burke growled, "Don't bother, we'll go."

McDade looked at him, startled, "Surely that's not necessary."

"Listen! I want my officer back and I thought that you'd want someone held accountable for what happened to that young prison officer, and the best thing to do when you want a job done is to do it yourself. Of course I can always grab a uniformed officer to accompany me if you can't be bothered," he sneered.

Sighing in a rather put upon manner, McDade moved for the door. "Let's go then," he conceded almost reluctantly.

* * *

><p>The door opened after only a few minutes, and Robbie had to adjust his gaze, having forgotten the fact that Jean Taggart was wheelchair bound. The older woman smiled up at them politely, her startling white hair tied up into a messy bun. "Can I help you?" she asked.<p>

Robbie flashed her his badge. "DI Ross, Maryhill CID. We'd like to ask you a few questions about one of the cases your husband, DCI Taggart investigated."

Jean looked between the two men, slightly startled. "Oh…well in that case come in." She wheeled herself into a cosy living room that was littered with pictures, the two men following her inside. "I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll try. Would you like a tea or coffee before we start?"

Stuart was about to smile and accept the offer when Robbie butt in, his smile tense as he told her, "No, thanks but we're in a bit of a rush."

"That sounded just like Jim, he was always rushing," she laughed before motioning for the two men to sit, which they did and then asked, "So how can I help?"

"We need to know whether or not DCI Taggart told you anything in regards to a case involving a Greg Martin."

"The Walpurgis night murderer, committed another three murders in October of the same year." She nodded. "I remember it, it was one of the last cases Jim worked on, but I don't see how I can be of help, he was jailed for life over ten years ago."

"He escaped from prison yesterday morning," Robbie told her, adding heavily, "we believe he's involved in the abduction of one of our officers, DS Reid, she went missing after heading home last night."

Jean's eyes widened. "Jackie! Oh God," she moaned her hand covering her mouth, before she shook her head and muttered under her breath, "I told him it was a stupid idea!"

"What was?" Robbie asked curiously.

Sighing, Jean looked over at him. "When Jim inherited the case it was all but dead in the water, they had no evidence to support the fact that Greg Martin had committed the murder and no other suspects or avenues to explore. Not long afterwards an ex girlfriend of Greg's walked into the station and told them that he'd confessed to murdering his father to her while they were in bed together. Jim decided at that point to hand the case to Mike."

"Jardine?" Robbie asked, looking for confirmation.

"Yes. Well Mike decided that there best bet was to try and get another confession from Greg, and so he persuaded Jackie to go in, under a false identity and gain his trust. I told Jim at that point that it was a stupid idea, but he agreed with Mike that it wouldn't hurt their chances, that it was all they had to go on. Anyway, Jackie fell for him, which wasn't helped by the fact that all the evidence began to point away from Greg, including the girlfriend admitting she'd lied in an effort to get even with him for ending the relationship. She turned up here one night in tears, and that was when Jim told her that it looked as though he was innocent. He tried to pull her out the next day but Jackie refused, she wanted the chance to prove that he was innocent, Jim even resorted to threatening her with suspension but she wouldn't budge. Shortly after, he proposed. She didn't say yes but she didn't turn him down either." Jean waved her hand slightly as she concluded, "They were about to shut the case, thinking that Greg's mother was the guilty party, when Jim discovered something that didn't add up. By the time they got out to the house, Jackie had discovered the original murder weapon, only just managing to escape from Greg. So he was arrested and that's the last I heard about the case."

Robbie's head was spinning at that information, but nonetheless he managed to get out, "If Jackie was so involved in the case, then why is there no mention of her in the investigation records?"

"Because Jim felt guilty enough as it was, Jackie had came close to leaving the force to be with Greg and he didn't want her dragged through the court case as well. None of the evidence had came from her part of the investigation, and Jim simply said that the chainsaw was found when they searched the house. He was trying to protect her, a bit late I admit but he did try."

Robbie got to his feet, shaking Jean's hand as he told her, "Thanks for your help, you've answered a few questions we had regarding the case."

"If there's anything I can do to help," Jean offered quickly, "just let me know, I'd be glad to do it."

"If we need you again then we'll be in touch," Robbie assured her as she showed them out.

As they walked down the front path, Stuart asked, "So what exactly does this mean?"

"It means we know how Greg met her, how he became obsessed and more importantly it goes a long way to showing that Jackie wouldn't have helped him escape." He sighed tiredly as he added grimly, "It also shows that Jackie has even worse taste in men than I ever gave her credit for."

* * *

><p>"Peter Robinson?" Burke asked, showing the sandy haired man who answered the door his badge.<p>

The man blinked, looking at the badge nervously. "Yes," he replied hesitantly. "Can I help you?"

"We'd like you to accompany us down to the police station, we have a few questions to ask you about your cousin, Greg Martin."

"He's in prison," he answered quickly, too quickly for Burke's liking.

"Oh I think we both know that he isn't," Burke shot back, his smile grim. "Now are you coming with us voluntarily or do I have to arrest you?"

"No…I'll come with you," he replied quietly, reaching behind himself to grab his coat as he followed them out to the car.

* * *

><p>Jackie felt as though she was going to have to glue her eyes open, she was so tired and yet she didn't want to sleep, she was vulnerable enough as it was without falling asleep in his presence. She licked the edge of her lips, trying to dampen them, she was so thirsty, hadn't drank anything since the night before, and going from the fact it was rapidly darkening outside she reckoned it was late evening by now.<p>

The door opened again and Greg stepped inside again, he'd barely spoken to her after hitting her earlier, and although part of her was relieved, the other part couldn't help but wonder if this was a bad thing.

He turned to look at her. "Are you uncomfortable?"

She nodded reluctantly, seeing no point in lying to him about this. "Yes," she croaked out.

"I'll let you get up for a bit, go to the bathroom if you promise not to try anything again."

"Will you untie my wrists?" she asked hopefully.

Greg shook his head. "No, I don't think we're ready for that just yet, maybe once I can trust you again then we can consider it. Now do you promise to behave?"

Too exhausted to argue, Jackie nodded. "Yes."

Nodding, he untied the knot that held her to the bed and pulled her up to her feet. The pull on her abused shoulder muscles causing her to cry out as her legs shook, pins and needles shooting along them, unused to moving after so many hours. He caught her as her knees buckled and as much as she wanted to, Jackie didn't even have the energy to push him away.

"Same rules as before," he told her, letting her go when her legs were steadier. "You have five minutes."

Jackie nodded as he pushed her into the small room again, closing the door behind her. This time as she washed her hands, she stared at the clear water. It was better then nothing she figured. Leaning forward almost unsteadily, she went to take a drink. Her lips had just touching the water when the door opened and Greg walked in.

He let out a roar of annoyance when he saw what she was doing, grabbing her by the arm and pushing her away from the sink. With her hands already tied she had no chance of righting herself and went flying, her side smashing against the bath, the air rushing out of her.

"Why can't you just do as I ask you!" he yelled at her. "I've offered you water and you won't take it!" his fingers raked through his hair as he stared at her gasping form in exasperation. He pulled her up to her feet again, ignoring her involuntary yell of pain. He pushed her onto the bed again, ignoring the tears that were welling in her eyes as he tied her back to the bed. "I told you that if you won't take it from me then you won't be getting it at all! What part of that was too difficult for you to understand?"

Jackie didn't answer, still trying to get her breath back as the pain continued to sear through her ribs. He pressed his face against his, the tip of his nose almost touching hers as he hissed, "Why can't you just do as I ask you? I don't want us to fight like this," he told her. "I don't want to have to hurt you but you just don't seem to learn." He shook his head before adding determinedly, "But you will, you will learn."

She watched him walk away, and for the first time since this ordeal started Jackie started to lose hope. She felt like she'd never be found and was starting to wonder if maybe this was how it ended for her.

* * *

><p>Burke shook his head, massaging his temples with his fingertips as he listened to Robbie tell him what he'd found out. "Well at least we know why this has happened now," he sighed. "And technically there wasn't really a cover up, because you can rest assured if there had been, Greg Martin's fancy defence team would have jumped on it, tried to have the case thrown out because of it. It was just a bloody mess from start to finish," he sighed irritably.<p>

"McDade knows, caught us on the way in, had to fill him in," Robbie added.

"That's fine, might make him focus his energies on a more appropriate avenue," he growled in reply, "although I doubt it, the man's useless."

"Heard you brought in Greg Martin's cousin."

"Yeah, arranging the ID parade just now. If our witness identifies him then I want you in on the questioning. I'm not taking in that useless lump no matter what he says."

"You think Robinson's our man?"

"Fit's the description and he was Martin's only consistent visitor. So yeah I think we've got him, now all we have to do is get him to crack."


	6. Chapter 6

"Take your time," Burke told Jackie's neighbour, "what we need is for you to be one hundred percent sure."

"I don't need anymore time," she replied easily. "It was number six, definitely, he was sat on the passenger's side, when I passed with the dog he looked away, didn't want to make eye contact, I suppose since he was up to no good."

Burke and Robbie shared a look, relieved that she'd picked out Peter Robinson, it meant that at last they might finally be getting somewhere, especially as she'd already picked Greg Martin out of a photo line-up. "Thank you for all your help," Burke told her. "We really appreciate it, the uniformed officer will show you out."

"Is that it?" she asked in disappointment. "You not even going to tell me what he's done?"

"I'm afraid that information is confidential," Burke replied easily as he led her towards the door, nodding at the woman PC, indicating that she should take over from here.

As the door shut behind the departing pair, Burke looked over to where Robbie was standing, noting the look of hatred that was marring the younger man's features. "You going to be able to deal with this interview?" he asked.

Robbie gave a curt nod. "Yes, although I'd prefer just to beat a confession out of him," he snarled.

"Think we'd all like nothing more than that, but we need to do this by the book," Burke reminded him.

"Sod by the book!" Robbie snapped irritably. He slumped suddenly back against the wall. "Why do you think he didn't run for it? He must have known that sooner or later we'd track him down."

"Perhaps he thought his tracks were covered."

Robbie continued as though Burke hadn't said anything at all. "And why the hell isn't he with Martin?"

"That'll come out in the wash," Burke assured him.

Robbie didn't answer, instead continuing to stare intently at Peter Robinson, who was now staring agitatedly up an down the line he was in. He couldn't seem to voice the words, but he felt sick to his stomach at the possibility that maybe the reason Robinson was alone was because Martin no longer needed his assistance. They had all assumed that Jackie was alive, but what if she wasn't, what if they'd murdered her when they'd grabbed her. He wasn't sure he could deal with that thought, and yet the fear of it did not leave him.

It was as though Burke was able to read his mind, a comforting hand patted his shoulder as he told him, "Looking at this realistically, Greg Martin would not have been able to grab Jackie by himself, not without causing a scene anyway, she would have fought him tooth and nail. We need to stay positive."

"Even though we have no evidence to suggest that we should be?"

"We also have no evidence to suggest we should give up on the possibility either," he replied, although Robbie couldn't help but notice for the first time just how exhausted Burke looked, his face lined with worry. The shadows under his eyes already standing out in stark contrast against the pastiness of his skin,

Still he was right, they couldn't give up on her, they owed her that much. His fingers curled and then uncurled into the palms of his hands. It wasn't just that, he needed her back, more than he was able to put into words, he needed to have her back by his side.

"You're right," he finally forced out. "So let's get on with it."

* * *

><p>"So when was the last time you saw Greg Martin?" Burke asked with a calmness he didn't feel, as he leaned across the desk, hands braced flat on the wood.<p>

"Last month," he replied calmly. "On one of the visiting days, I forget which one although I'm sure you'll be able to track the day it was down."

"And what did you talk about?"

Peter shrugged. "This and that, we talked about the horses for a while, I do remember that."

"Did he complain of feeling ill?" Burke asked.

"I knew he'd been unwell and we may have touched upon the subject but I don't remember it all that well."

"And you knew that he was going to the hospital for tests yesterday?"

Again he nodded. "I did, he wrote to tell me."

"And it was from the hospital that you picked him up?"

Peter's spine stiffened. "Course I didn't."

It was at this point that Robbie stepped forward. "You happen to own a silver Renault Clio, don't you?"

"I do, but so do thousands of other people," he snapped back.

"It's just that security cameras happen to show your cousin getting into said car outside Stirling Royal Infirmary. Now are you seriously trying to tell us that that's a coincidence?"

"Stranger things have happened."

Burke cut in, "So where were you last night, between midnight and one am?"

"At home, asleep."

"Really? Well that is strange," Robbie remarked, "because we have a witness who was able to place you and your cousin in a van in the west end at that time."

"Must have a doppelganger then."

Robbie continued undeterred, "Come off it, you were spotted in the same street that one of our officer's lives in, an officer who hasn't been seen since that night!" He leaned forward, bearing down over him. "An officer who your cousin wrote to when he was first imprisoned, claming that he loved her."

Peter Robinson stared up at him, stating stubbornly, "I want a lawyer."

"Aye well in this room I want doesn't get," Burke growled at him. "We can hold you for six hours without a lawyer."

"Then I simply won't be saying anymore," he told them firmly.

Burke caught Robbie by the arm as the man let out a growl of annoyance and stalked forward, managing to yank him backwards before he could cause too much havoc. "It would be in your best interest to start talking now," Burke assured him.

"No comment."

"Tell us where you took DS Reid."

"No comment."

Letting out an annoyed rush of air through flaring nostrils, Burke got out, "Well lets see if an hour or so in our cells changes your mind."

* * *

><p>"We need more evidence," Burke growled in annoyance. "We might have that witness but we don't have enough proof to show that he was the one who picked up Martin outside the hospital."<p>

Stuart crossed his arms across his chest. "We should check with traffic to see if his car was picked up on any of the cameras. I mean think about it, if you've helped a convicted convict to escape from prison then you're going to want to get as far away as possible as quickly as you can. Chances are he broke the speed limit along the way."

"Good idea," Burke told him, "go check that out."

"On it," Stuart assured him, jumping to his feet and getting to the task at hand.

Robbie let out a deep, irritated sigh. "Just give me five minutes with him in that cell."

"Robbie that isn't helping anyone!" Burke snapped. "Especially not Jackie!"

"And this is! We're not getting anywhere!" He yelled getting to his feet and kicking his desk, causing the rest of the office to jump and then avert their eyes uncomfortably.

Burke eyed him in a combination of annoyance and sympathy. "My office," he told him quietly.

For a moment he thought that Robbie was going to refuse, thought the younger man was going to storm off, but after a few protracted seconds he stormed into the office as asked, with Burke following him. He shut the door behind him, turning to face Robbie, noting that his hands were shaking. "Whatever it is you have to let out, you let out in here right now."

Robbie looked at him, breathing heavily as he tried to stay calm. "We're not getting anywhere," he repeated, "and every minute that we spend getting nowhere means that we get further and further away from getting her back."

"We all know that," he told him. "Everyone at this station knows that. Uniform have searched Greg Martin's old estate and I have officers looking for any other properties he might own and we're now doing the same with Robinson."

"What if it's not enough?"

"I told you that you can't think like that."

Robbie rubbed at his jaw. "Can't bloody help it, seen too many of these cases, know the odds too well," he muttered.

"We all do, but that doesn't mean that this isn't going to be the one case where we find her alive." It hadn't escaped his notice that Robbie looked awful, as though he was finally on the edge of breaking down.

He shook his head again. "I should have walked her home!" he told his Boss. "Should never have let her go on her own."

"Jackie's a grown woman, I don't think she'd have reacted too well to a chaperone," Burke told him. "And there was no reason for you to have insisted to walking with her."

"That doesn't make it any better," Robbie told him.

"No, it won't," Burke told him, "but you do have to stop blaming yourself."

"Don't think I can," Robbie muttered under his breath.

At a loss over what to say, Burke struggled over his words. He'd never quite known what to make of Jackie and Robbie's relationship, he knew that it was platonic but he didn't understand how it had remained like that for so long. There was obvious a strong undercurrent of feeling between the two and he sometimes wondered of the station gossip that claimed they fancied each other didn't go far enough. That perhaps it was love that neither one was willing to face, or perhaps they remained ignorant to it. Somehow he didn't think that was the case anymore, that it was the depth of Robbie's feelings that was causing him to struggle now, that he was having to face how he was feeling and the possibility of losing her in one fell swoop.

Thankfully he was saved from a reply by Stuart knocking on the door. "Come in," he called out, noticing how Robbie swung away so that he was facing the window, presumably to give himself some time to compose himself.

Stuart stepped into the room, the beginnings of a smile on his face. "Robinson's car was spotted speeding on the motorway between Stirling and Glasgow shortly after the time that we saw Martin get into that car at the hospital. Uniform also found the license plate that was on the van in his stables, looks like they took it off at one point, possibly to swap it for another in case the original plate was reported."

At that, Robbie swung round, asking hurriedly, almost hopefully, "Any sign of the van?"

"None," Stuart replied, slightly more downhearted this time. "But it means we can put the pressure on a bit more."

"Exactly," Burke confirmed. "So drag him out of the cells and lets see what we get out of him this time."

* * *

><p>"We found these plates in your stables, where did you get them?" Robbie asked, throwing the license plate onto the desk.<p>

Peter barely looked at it. "No comment," he told them blandly.

"It's just that these plates were reported as the ones who were seen on the van we believe abducted DS Reid, the van you were seen sitting in."

"No comment."

Still Robbie persisted. "Not only that but we have photos of your car speeding down the motorway joining Glasgow with Stirling, shortly after Greg Martin was caught on security getting into a car identical to yours."

"No comment."

Robbie slammed his hand down onto the wooden desk, ignoring the splintering pain that ricocheted up his arms as a result. "You're about to be charged with helping a convict escape from prison, and with the evidence we have we could also charge you with the abduction of DS Reid."

"No comment."

Burke strode forward. "Listen if you help us then we'll be more inclined to help you," he told him.

"Like I've said, I want a lawyer," he replied, finally lifting his gaze from the table and meeting the two men's gazes.

"Interview terminated at twenty one hundred hours," Burke snarled into the tape recorder, beckoning for Robbie to follow him out of the room.

Robbie made sure to slam the door behind him. "We're not seriously going to let that creep get a lawyer, are we? We get him a lawyer and we'll never get anything out of him."

"We're not getting anything out of him just now!" Burke reminded him harshly. "I know you don't like the idea, but it might just be time to try another tact."

Running his hands through his hair in agitation, Robbie nodded after a moment's pause. "You're right, it doesn't matter as long as we find her."

* * *

><p>Everything hurt, every muscle in her body ached and her mouth was bone dry. It was pitch black in the room now apart from a small sliver of light that was given off by the small bedside lamp.<p>

Her ribs felt as though someone had taken to a mallet to them, her cheek ached and her neck still felt tender, she had no doubt that she would be black and blue soon if she weren't already. Still she didn't cry though, she refused to let herself be ground down to that extent.

The bedroom door creaked open, and Greg stepped into the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed again. "We haven't had the best of starts," he commented quietly.

"No," Jackie replied shortly, not wanting to say anything else in case she angered him once more, and she hurt enough as it was without adding to the catalogue of her injuries.

"But that doesn't mean we can't get past it," he continued, undeterred. "We just need to rediscover the things that made us love each other in the first place, recapture the intimacy we once shared."

Jackie felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end at that comment. "What do you mean?" she got out uncertainly.

His hand brushed over her hair again. "I want to show you just how much you mean to me," he told her. He leaned forward, pressing his lips to her forehead.

Jackie shook her head. "No, no Greg, please don't do this."

He ignored her, his mouth travelling down her un-bruised cheek. Jackie tried to pull her head away but his fingers tightened in her hair and yanked her face back to his as he threw his thigh over her waist, straddling her. His mouth was down at her neck now, placing light kisses along the very marks he'd caused earlier.

She tried to struggle out of the way, attempting to roll away from him, only for him to pull her back, lowering his weight on top of her. She let out a moan of pain when the weight put pressure on her already painful ribs. "Stop," she told him, jerking desperately, trying to dislodge him.

He simply grunted, his hands sliding down to the buttons of her shirt, slipping them free, his hands groping at her breasts, squeezing them so hard her eyes watered. "No! Stop it!" she told him again, almost shouting it by now.

I love you," he muttered against her neck.

"Then stop," she moaned, still trying to roll out of the way, her legs flailing as she tried to break free and failed. Her wrists we agony because of her actions and she felt as though she had a block of lead sitting on her chest.

His hands were sliding down her stomach now, down to her legs, pulling up her skirt as she aimed frantic kicks at him. She was crying now, uncaring of what he thought. She couldn't believe it had came to this. "Stop it Greg! Please!"

His fingers bit painfully into her thighs, forcing them apart, his breath heavy against her cheek. "Please," she sobbed now, her breath catching. "Please don't do this, Greg."

This time he finally seemed to pause, although it might have been down to the fact he could feel the dampness of her cheek against his skin. He drew back slightly, his fingers letting go of her thighs and wiping away a tear with his thumb. "Don't cry," he told her.

Jackie wanted to stop crying, she really did, the shuddering sobs just plain hurt her ribs and she hated showing him any weakness. "Then stop," she pleaded with him.

He swallowed heavily, and then finally fell to the side, taking his weight off her. He continue to lean over her slightly, continuing to try and wipe away the tears that were now silently trickling down her cheeks. "Why wont you just give me a chance?" he asked.

"Because you don't deserve one," she choked out.

"Everyone deserves a chance."

"I gave you a chance twelve years ago, and you murdered three people in the time we were together."

"I had to do that."

Jackie simply shook her head, looking away from him, tears still running down her face.

Giving a heavy sigh, Greg rebut toned her blouse and straightened her skirt, ignoring the way she winced when he touched her.

Once he was done, Jackie struggled over onto her side so that she didn't have to look at him. He still leaned over her and continued to try and calm her. Again she didn't sleep that night but she was unbelievably grateful when he finally fell asleep, and he was no longer touching her.

* * *

><p>Robbie was pacing the floor of the interview room. "You have to kidding me!" he barked out, struggling to stop himself from lunging across the desk and throttling both Peter Robinson and his lawyer.<p>

The smarmy layer shook his head. "Wouldn't dream of it. My client admits to picking up Greg Martin outside the hospital, so you have him for aiding and abetting a known criminal's escape, which you have already charged him with, but he knows nothing about the abduction of Detective Sergeant Jacqueline Reid."

"Then how do explain the fact that he was spotted in the van with Greg Martin, and that he had the stolen plate from the van in his possession?" Burke asked.

Peter Robinson looked towards his lawyer, who gave his client a curt nod, and he finally answered, "I believe my cousin to be innocent of the crimes he was accused of and imprisoned for. I gave him the van so he could make a clean break, I left him and the van without seeing DS Reid."

"Where did you leave him?"

"Industrial estate in the south-side, I don't know who was in that van with him, but it wasn't me," he told them. "I dropped him off straight away after picking him up."

"So as far as the abduction line of questioning goes, my client has nothing more to say."

"Your client still has questions to answer," Robbie barked.

"Not as far as we're concerned, and I have instructed him to not comment if he's asked anything on the subject."

With that Burke swiftly terminated the interview and dragged Robbie from the room before the younger man lost it all over again.


	7. Chapter 7

**After this point the story changes direction and tact.**

**But I'd love to know what you think so far, if you're enjoying it or any improvements I could make :)**

**Hope you enjoy this new installement**

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><p>It was ten am, and tensions were running high now, the atmosphere in the office bordering on toxic. None of the team had had more than a few hours sleep, which they had only grabbed when the need for sleep overcame them and they'd been on the verge of passing out. The rest of the time had been spent interviewing Peter Robinson, and receiving a straight no comment reply all the way through, even after they'd gave him access to a lawyer.<p>

Robbie no longer had it in him to be constantly angry, although that still flared up from time to time, now he'd progressed to just feeling strangely hopeless. He knew he couldn't give up, he would never give up searching for her, but the hope of getting her back alive was still fading fast.

He knew; they all knew that Robinson knew more than he was letting on, but he simply wasn't letting any of it out. They needed to find a weak spot, something that would make him break, there was always something, the difficulty was finding it.

Originally he'd thought the threat of prison was enough to scare him, but it hadn't been enough, the man seemed determined to protect the whereabouts of his lunatic cousin. This man was taking the phrases family loyalty and blood is thicker than water to heart, even going as far to insist that his cousin was an innocent man who was wrongly convicted.

The pen that Robbie had been tapping off the desk suddenly stopped as a thought occurred to him. This man seemed to think that his cousin couldn't be capable of the violence he was accused off, so maybe they should show him the truth.

He got to his feet to go and look out the original case files. He might just have found a way in but he needed to have everything to hand, needed to have it all planned out before he attempted this one. That being said he still planned to move as quickly as he possibly could.

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><p>Jackie blinked tiredly after another night of not sleeping, listening to Greg wander around the kitchen next door. After a few minutes he appeared again, a plate of food and a glass of water in his hands.<p>

Sighing, Jackie glanced away from him, although out of the corner of her eye she could still see him making his way towards her. He sat down on the bed next to her, placing the glass and plate onto the bedside table. He pushed the front of her hair off her face, telling her quietly, "Brought you in a late breakfast."

"I don't want it," Jackie told him quietly.

"You need to at least drink," he encouraged her. "You're making yourself ill."

Jackie looked at the food and water, she wasn't even tempted anymore. She was rapidly starting to give up, that and she still didn't trust him not to slip her something, after all he hadn't exactly shown her much in the way of care and consideration so far. She shook her head. "Don't care," she told him.

"But I do," he told her. "Jackie you don't look well."

"Don't suppose the bruises help," she mumbled.

He didn't look ashamed, but he did reply, "Things will get better, just give them time."

"Time is never going to fix this." She fixed her eyes on his. "Please, Greg, just let me go home," she begged quietly.

He shook his head. "I can't do that, so make this easier on yourself and stop asking."

Jackie looked away from him again. "Then don't expect me to do everything you order me too. I don't want to be here."

"You need to drink," he repeated firmly. "Or you'll get ill."

"I've already told you that I don't care."

His temper flared. "I've told you to drink!" He grabbed her by her cheeks, fingers of one hand pinching her skin as he yanked her face toward him, trying to force the glass to her mouth.

Jackie forced her lips into a thin line and kicked her legs out, managing to hit him in his side, causing him to reel backwards the glass falling to the floor with a clink and covering him with the water.

He stared at her, his cheek twitching in annoyance. "Why do you insist on spoiling everything!" he snapped.

"I'm sorry if this abduction hasn't been all you hoped for," she ground out, "but in case you hadn't noticed, I haven't exactly been having the best of times either."

He lunged forward, hands spearing into her hair, pulling her face to look at his. "You listen to me," he hissed, "We are going to work through this and we are going to be happy!" Letting go of her hair, he stepped backwards and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Jackie tilted her head to look up the ceiling, she knew that part of what he said was true, she was going to make herself ill, but she wasn't sure she could bring herself to care anymore. At first she'd assumed she'd either have been able to escape or she would have been found by now. But she was still here, she wasn't sure for how long exactly but certainly more than a day. Now she was beginning to wonder if they would ever find her, after all where would they even start? She didn't even know where she was.

Screwing her eyes shut she tried to hold back the tears. She'd never felt so bloody helpless before, she just wanted it all to end and she was starting to get to the stage that she didn't care how that ending came about.

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><p>Burke wasn't around, he'd decided to supervise a search of one of Peter Robinson's properties, probably just so he felt useful and didn't charge in and beat the man in question to a bloody pulp. Like everyone else in the station he was sorely tempted.<p>

With him gone, and unable to wait any longer, Robbie grabbed Stuart from his computer screen. "Want to talk to Robinson again," he told the younger man, "you coming with?"

"Of course, but I thought the Boss said we needed another tact, that he refused to speak."

"He does and I have a new tact I want to try."

Stuart hesitated slightly. "Maybe we should wait for him to get back, run it past him."

Robbie's eyes flashed in annoyance. "How much longer do you want to wait? It's been thirty six hours since Jackie went missing, we can't wait forever!" he yelled.

There was a moment of hesitation before Stuart nodded, admitting, "You're right, we can't just hang around anymore. So fill me in on the new plan and let's go for it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Robbie sat down in the chair across from Peter Robinson, leaning back in his chair with a feigned casual air. "You stated earlier that you helped Greg Martin escape because you believed that he was innocent."

"My client has already made that clear."

"Then he won't mind saying it again, will he?" Robbie replied casually.

Peter looked between the two men and sighed in a put upon manner. "I don't mind," he told his lawyer, "whatever makes this go quicker. I believe that my cousin was wrongly convicted, he was set up, there's no way that he would have murdered his parents, never mind two strangers; he had no reason to."

"He wanted to inherit his father's millions and the house, which he only got after his mother's death. He killed Brodie and Skimming to try and make himself look innocent."

Peter shook his head, "He wouldn't have done it."

"A jury thought otherwise."

"They still only convicted him of killing his parents, they decided there wasn't enough evidence to back up the other two charges. And Greg simply wouldn't have hurt them, especially not his mother. Lavinia killed herself because she couldn't deal with the guilt of hiring someone to kill James."

"Lavinia Martin couldn't have killed herself, with the amount of barbiturates in her system she wouldn't have been able to deliver the final fatal does of insulin."

Again he was answered with a shake of a head and a stubborn, "He's not a violent man."

It was the way in that Robbie had been waiting for. "What about the young prison guard who's head he bashed in when he want to escape? Most people would class that as a violent act.

Peter's face waned, he shook his head, "He didn't hurt anyone during his escape, he told me he didn't."

"Well he was lying," Robbie told him harshly, pulling a photo out of the young man in intensive care, his head bandaged and his two eyes blackened. "Adam Harrison is twenty eight years old and thanks to your cousin slamming his head against the wall he's had to have emergency brain surgery, which he might never recovery from."

"He…no," Peter choked out, looking wildly around him.

"You're kidding yourself if you think that Greg Martin is an innocent man, he murdered his parent's in cold blood, he is manipulative and he's dangerous."

"My client has nothing more to say on this matter," the lawyer dropped in quickly, noting the shell-shocked look on Peter's face.

"Well he should!" Robbie bit back, " because we're about to charge him with abduction and if DS Reid is dead then he'll be charged with accessory to murder."

"What!" Peter looked panicked at that. "No, look he said he wasn't going to hurt her, he wouldn't, he loves her."

"The same way he loved his parents?" Robbie snarled.

"He promised me he wasn't going to hurt her, that's the only reason I agreed to help him-"

"Don't say anything else," his lawyer cut in hurriedly, sensing disaster.

"That sounded dangerously close to a confession," Robbie remarked. "Your client should consider helping us, or he's going to be spending the next decade, probably more, behind bars."

"I think I need to talk to my client alone."

"Fine," Robbie replied, "but you might want to press upon him the merits of helping us."

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"This might actually work," Stuart remarked hopefully.

"It certainly seems to have rattled him," Robbie replied, hoping that this time they might just get somewhere.

"What's rattled who?" Burke asked irately as he stormed back into the office.

"We might have managed to break Peter Robinson," Stuart told him.

"Good," he replied shortly, "because so far we've not managed to track down where Martin could have escaped to. So we need this guy to talk."

Robbie nodded his agreement as he leaned forward to pick up his ringing desk phone, "DI Ross." He listened for a minute before saying, "We'll be right down." He hung up and for the first time in almost two days he actually felt slightly more positive, telling the others as he turned to face them again, "Robinson wants to talk to us again."

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Wringing his hands together anxiously, Peter told them sincerely, "I honestly only helped Greg escape because I believed he was innocent. The original plan was just for me to secure him a van and leave him to it, he was going to approach Jackie on his own."

"But that changed?" Burke asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I was about to leave, had just given him the keys when he asked for another favour." He swallowed heavily, his voice slightly strangled when he started speaking again. "He said that she'd panic when she saw him, and that he wouldn't get the chance to talk to her. Said his best chance was if he took her away somewhere, so they had some time alone to discuss things. It sounded reasonable when he put it like that."

"So how did he suggest that he get her alone?" Robbie asked, his blood boiling.

"He said the best way would be just to grab her, but to do that he needed help. Said that she'd be frightened at first but that she'd come round once he spoke to her. I didn't want to hurt her but I thought he deserved a chance to talk her round. So I agreed to help him. We waited in the van for her to come home. We saw the taxi pull up, so I got into the back of the van and Greg waited outside. He grabbed her as she walked past, pulled her backwards so that I could tie her ankles first, she fought us like he said she would. I tried to say that maybe it wasn't the best idea, but he was so insistent and I couldn't just stop now that we'd started. So I tied her wrists and then…then I had to gag her."

Robbie felt the blood leave his face, and he was having to fight back the urge to punch the man's lights out. He couldn't believe how he could have went through with that idea, and he didn't even want to think about how terrified Jackie must have been. "Then what?" he growled out.

"That was it, I went home and left Greg to it, like we'd planned before."

"Where was he going?" Burke asked.

"He owns land up in the Cairngorms, he was heading there, was going to lie low for a while."

"How?" Robbie asked. "We looked into that land and there's no record of a house up there."

Peter shifted uncomfortably. "Well there wouldn't be, James built the house without permission, it's just a small log cabin type place but we both thought it would be the best place for him to go. We knew that no-one would look for him up there."

"And he's definitely taken Jackie there?" Robbie got out, leaning forward anxiously now.

"That was the plan, and I don't see why he would have changed it."

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><p>Jackie felt exhausted, every muscle felt as though it was fire now and she'd never felt worse in her entire life.<p>

The door opened and Greg walked back in, kneeling down next to her, his hand stroking through her hair. "You need to drink, you're not well."

She shook her head, too exhausted to formulate a reply.

"Anything you want to drink and I'll go and get it for you," he told her. "Please Jackie, please just drink something."

Still she ignored him, instead muttering to herself more than to him, "I'm so tired."

"If you drank something then you'd feel better," he reassured her.

"No," she told him, her voice barely above a whisper. "And you can't make me."

Greg raked his hands through his hair, staring at her in exasperation. "You're ruining this for us," he told her.

She simply turned her face away and closed her eyes for the first time since he'd grabbed her.

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><p>The drive up to Greg Martin's house dragged by. It took them over three hours and during that time that Robbie just couldn't stop thinking about what they might be faced with. He hoped to God that Peter's faith in his cousin in this regard wasn't horribly misplaced.<p>

Despite his Catholic upbringing, he'd never thought himself a particularly religious man, but for once as he drove down the motorway like a maniac, he sent up a silent prayer. He'd never take Jackie for granted again, he'd tell her what she meant to him and show her everyday that he loved her, if only she was ok.

In the background of his frantic thoughts, he heard Stuart whimper as they went round a particularly sharp bend, heard Burke reprimand him, but he was past caring. This bastard had had almost two days with Jackie and he wasn't going to let him have any longer than he absolutely had to, enough was enough.

They stopped the car before they moved into view of the house so that Martin didn't spot them out of the window. Burke motioned for the couple of uniformed officers they'd brought with them for back-up to stay out of the way. He looked over at Robbie, telling him, "We need to move quickly on this, need you to kick that door in in one, can't give him any warning, or any time to react."

"I know that," Robbie replied shortly.

They moved quickly to the front door and picturing it as Greg Martin's face, Robbie kicked the door down in one swift move and the officers swarmed into the room.

Greg Martin appeared in the doorway leading through to the other room, looking at them in horror. Robbie lunged for him, grabbing him before he had the opportunity to fight and cuffed him quickly before thrusting him towards Burke and Stuart. It hadn't escaped his notice that this room was empty and there was no sign of Jackie, he ran through to the next room and his heart sank.

Jackie lay motionless on a bed, her hands tied above her head to the bedpost. The usually perfectly clear skin of her cheek, chin and neck were marred with dark bruises that stood out even more against the increased paleness of her skin. Her eyes were closed but he could see the shadows underneath them, and they looked almost sunken.

Swallowing back the rise of fear that was building in the back of his throat, he rushed forward, noticing how the ropes had cut into the skin of her wrists, the skin of her ankles also still red raw and marked. His fingers slipped slightly as he pulled the main bit of the rope from around the bedpost, although he didn't pull at the length that encompassed her wrists out of fear of hurting her more.

He pulled her into his arms. "Jackie!" he called out worriedly. "Jackie, it's Robbie, I need you to open your eyes for me."

When she didn't so much as shift, he fumbled to press his fingers against her neck, feeling for a pulse and letting out a sigh of relief when he found one. "Boss!" he called out. "Get in here." He turned back to Jackie, giving her a slight shake. "Come on, Jacks," he pleaded.

Her eyes fluttered open for the briefest of seconds, but it was as though she were looking right through him, her brown eyes dull and strangely unfocussed before they closed over again.

"Jesus Christ," he heard Burke curse as he walked into the room, eyeing the scene before him.

"Get an ambulance," Robbie barked out.

His hands felt heavy and clumsy as he stroked his fingers over her cheek, telling her desperately, "You're going to be alright, it's over now, you're safe." And although he was pretty sure that she couldn't hear him, he just kept talking.


	8. Chapter 8

**New plot bunny just starting pulling at my brain :)**

**Still trying to stick to one story at a time though.**

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><p>Robbie stayed with Jackie until the paramedics arrived, which thankfully wasn't too long as Burke had asked for a local ambulance to be on standby so it was just a case of them getting as close to the house as possible. That being said it was still the longest ten minutes of Robbie's life, sitting there. waiting.<p>

She didn't open her eyes again, and he'd never seen her look so awful. Her right cheekbone was badly bruised, with smaller fingertip shaped bruises starting to appear on both cheeks and more across her neck. Her pale skin was now almost chalk white, and held none of it's previous healthy glow.

He rested her head across his lap, and he noticed that her breaths were so shallow at times that he found himself almost constantly checking that she still had a pulse. He heard a floor board creek and he looked up to see Burke standing in the doorway. "Got Stuart and uniform accompanying Martin back to the station, how is she?"

Robbie shook his head, his voice echoing in his ears as he replied, "Not good, she's only opened her eyes once and it was like she couldn't see me."

"Paramedics are going to be here in a minute."

He nodded, his hand squeezing her fingers gently as he turn back towards Jackie and murmured, "You hear that, Jackie, a few more minutes, not much longer so just hang on."

Less than a minute passed before the paramedics rushed into the room. Robbie reluctantly released his hold on Jackie, placing her back onto the bed as they made their way over to her. "What's her name?" One of them asked him gruffly.

"Jackie," Robbie told them, taking a small step back and yet still managing to hover closely at the same time, watching them carefully.

One of them leaned over her, shaking her shoulder as he called out, "Jackie, Jackie can you hear us, we need you to open your eyes for us."

She didn't stir. The older paramedic turned to look at his colleague. "Let's try get a line in and get some fluids running ASAP, see if that makes a difference. Get some jelonet and bandages out of the bag and we'll get that rope off from around her wrists."

The younger woman nodded, getting out the supplies as he painstakingly set about cutting the rope from around her wrists as carefully as possible. "This might sting a bit, Jackie," he told her, receiving no response in return.

Robbie winced though as he saw how raw and broken the skin of her wrists were. The paramedic cleaned them both quickly, pouring saline over them, almost haphazardly, before telling his partner. "Bandage one while I put a line in and then do the other once I'm done."

"Ok, and after that?"

"We'll go, think she's pretty dehydrated so I don't want to hang about."

Robbie was just about jumping from foot to foot, looking so agitated that finally Burke stepped forward, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Let's wait in the other room, leave them to get on with it."

He tried to shrug his hand away, only to find that his hand was clamped down on his shoulder and the older man was intent on pulling him away. "I want to stay with her," he ground out.

"You're just making things worse for yourself standing there, and you know that you don't want to get in their way and stop them from getting on with their job, so just move yourself, DI Ross."

Reluctantly, Robbie pulled himself away and moved into the dingy living room. Burke just about manhandled him into a chair, telling him, "Sit down before you fall."

Robbie let out a shaky breath, head resting in his hands. He'd never thought of Jackie as weak, never, but that was how she seemed now. He just wished they'd got there quicker, broken Robinson sooner, that she hadn't been left at Greg Martin's mercy for quite so long. The last forty odd hours had dragged by for him, so just how bad had they been for her, it was a thought that didn't bare thinking about and yet he just couldn't help himself.

Only a few more minutes passed before he saw the paramedics move out of the room wheeling Jackie out, a bag of fluid dangling from a metal pole the stood out vertically from the trolley.

"How is she?" Robbie asked, jumping to his feet.

"She's still unresponsive," the older one grunted. "We'll know more when we get her to the hospital. Are you coming with?"

Robbie didn't wait to hear Burke's opinion on this, replying quickly, "Yeah, I am."

"What hospital are you heading for?" Burke asked curtly.

"Raigmore, we'll blue light it and should be there in half an hour. We've already radioed ahead," he told them.

Robbie watched as they clipped the trolley into place in the back of the ambulance, the man darting round to the driver's seat while the woman looked over at Robbie and told him softly, "In you get, your friend can come too if he wants, room for one more."

"I'll follow in the car," Burke informed them quickly, jangling the keys in his hand as he spoke.

Robbie sat down on the seat the paramedic had gestured to, leaning forward, his eyes watching Jackie's motionless form even as he heard the ambulance doors slam shut.

The woman busied herself as the vehicle started, attaching cables to a monitor and jotting down the readings.

"Are they all ok?" Robbie blurted out suddenly, nodding towards the screen.

"Her blood pressure's still pretty low, but the fluid we're giving has already started to make a difference to that," she told him.

The bag of fluid was almost empty twenty minutes later, when the woman leaned forward to recheck the monitor. Robbie heard the whir of the cuff around Jackie's arm as it began to inflate and saw her stir slightly as it began to tighten. "Jacks?" he questioned as he leaned forward hopefully.

The paramedic looked down from the monitor at Robbie's hopeful tone. She drew back slightly and asked, "Jackie, can you hear me?"

Jackie let out a low groan, her eyes flickering open. The bright light of the ambulance hurt her eyes, her head was pounding, her ribs aching and her muscles burning. She gave a nod at the unfamiliar voice, frowning as she saw Robbie sitting behind her.

He moved forward when he saw her eyes land on him., reaching out and brushing his hand across hers, feeling hurt and slightly miffed when she winced and drew her hand away from him.

It reminded her too much of Greg, constantly fawning over her, even in her confused mind she knew the comparison wasn't fair, but she just couldn't seem to help it. Her eyes flickered away from him, up to the ceiling for a few minutes before the woman paramedic started talking again, "I'm Amanda, Jackie, I'm a paramedic, we're going to take you into Raigmore hospital. Can you tell me if you hurt anywhere in particular?"

But Jackie's eyes were already closed again, too exhausted to listen to anymore of what was going on around her.

Robbie exchanged a concerned look with Amanda who gave him a reassuring smile, "It's a good sign that she came round after that fluid even if it was just for a few minutes. I'm going to put up another bag just now, but we're almost at the hospital so you might not get to see the effects of that."

The vehicle screeched to a stop only minutes after Amanda had connected the new bag. She looked towards Robbie and warned him, "Things are about to move pretty quickly. The best thing you could do for Jackie right now is book her in at the front desk, as long as you know her address and date of birth that would be a great help to us."

"I can do that," Robbie assured her, relieved that he had something to do, was able to keep busy and help at the same time.

The doors opened and Jackie was out and away in seconds, a rush of people and varying voices talking to each other, barking out instructions at each other. Robbie watched them in bewilderment before suddenly remembering what he was to do and heading for the front desk. Once he'd carried that out, he turned to see Burke standing beside a nearby wall, clutching two steaming plastic cups in his hands. The older man straightened and walked over to him, telling him, "They've said we can wait in that private room over there."

Robbie held the door open, letting Burke step inside first. As the door fell shut, the older man passed him one of the cups of coffee. "Thought you might need this."

"Thanks," Robbie muttered, sitting down and letting out an uneven sigh.

"How is she?" Burke asked, sitting down across from him.

"She came too for a bit in the ambulance but…" he shook his head. "She wasn't herself and she lost consciousness pretty quickly after that."

"We'll just need to wait and see what they say then," Burke sighed almost reluctantly, not liking those words anymore than Robbie did. He took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. "This stuff could do with spiking, makes me wish I carried a hip flask."

Robbie gave a short bark of laughter. "Don't see the top corridor being too impressed if you started that."

"Ach they'd never pull their head out their arses long enough to notice." He placed his cup down onto the slightly stained coffee table in front of them.

They sat together in silence, Robbie watching the clock on the wall as it ticked the minutes away. Sixty seven minutes passed before the door opened again, and a bald man in his fifties walked in, rolling down his shirt sleeves from around his elbows as he did so. He shook both Burke and Robbie's hands, introducing himself, "I'm Mr Stevens, one of the consultants here at the A&E."

"How's Jackie?" Robbie asked, jumping straight to the point.

"She's stable," he assured them both. "I understand that you're not only friends but that you're also investigating her abduction?"

"That's right," Burke replied.

"Right, well in that case I'm able to discuss her injuries with you. Apart from the bruising to her face and neck she has moderate rope burns to her wrists that our nursing staff have cleaned and re-bandaged. We also noticed some bruising to her ribs and on carrying out a chest x-ray we found that she's fractured two ribs on her right side, this can be conservatively managed though and isn't as bad as it sounds as long as we keep an eye on it over the next few days to minimise the risk of any complications. Our biggest concern at this moment in time is how dehydrated she is, and the possible effects it could have on her kidneys. To combat this we've got her on fluids and we've managed to bump up her blood pressure. She's still slow to rouse but we reckon that's now mostly down to exhaustion as she is waking when prompted."

"What does all this mean? Long term," Robbie asked.

"Ms Reid should make a full physical recovery, although we will need to keep an eye on her bloods so we can monitor her kidney function and make sure it's returning to normal. What does concern me is that we noticed some bruising to her thighs which we've quite often seen in woman who've been sexually assaulted."

"You think she's been…" Robbie couldn't get the word rape past his mouth, it made him feel sick.

"It is a possibility, I'm afraid," he told them, knowing what Robbie was trying to ask. "Although at this moment in time, Miss Reid isn't really in any condition to answer any questions, so we can't press the issue."

"No, of course not," Burke murmured.

"Are we able to see her?" Robbie asked.

"I wouldn't encourage it right now," he told them in reply. "We're about to move her to our medical high dependency unit so we can monitor her carefully overnight and she is quite out of it and needs her rest, so I wouldn't recommend you going to see her at the moment. It might be better all round if you came back in the morning."

Robbie continued regardless, desperate to see Jackie again. "Just for a few minutes then, before you take her up."

"Just for a few minutes," he relented. "Until the porter comes to transfer her up to HDU."

"Thank you," Robbie replied, as both he and Burke followed Mr Stevens out through the waiting room and into a large ward like area, with three separate areas curtained off.

"Through there," he told them, waving them over to the second set of curtains.

They both slipped through the curtains, into a large open area filled with medical equipment on multiple trolleys, and a bed in the middle of it all.

Jackie was asleep, the machine above the bed beeping softly, a drip still running into her arm. It was Robbie who stepped forward first, he touched his hand to her forehead in what was meant to be a comforting gesture, but even in her sleep, Jackie winced her head turning away, a low, quiet, almost incoherent moan of, "No," escaping from her.

Robbie drew his hand back as though he'd been burned, his heart pounding in his chest at her words. He looked over at Burke who looked concerned by the reaction but not quite able to formulate the proper response.

Robbie's hands dropped to his side, fingers twitching nervously, unsure of what he should do now. He heard Burke give a small, yet meaningful cough behind him and so he turned. "Maybe we should go," the older man suggested. "Let her get settled and we can go question Martin, come back in the morning."

After a moment's pause he nodded, getting out gruffly, "Yeah…fine."

One last look at Jackie and with his shoulders slumped, he left the curtained off area, passing the porter on their way out.

The two men walked in silence to the car, Burke getting into the driver's seat, not trusting Robbie to drive in his distracted state. Robbie didn't say a word for the first twenty minutes, instead choosing to stare blankly out of the window. Finally he told him grimly, his voice almost emotionless, "She pulled away from me in the ambulance as well, when she came too for a few minutes I put my hand over hers and she yanked it away, wouldn't even look at me."

"She's been through a lot," he replied, his voice low as he tried not to think about exactly what she could have been put through.

"Do you…Do you think that he did…"

Burke sighed. "I don't know. We can't discount it as a possibility. For now though I don't think we should mention it in the interview."

Looking at him sharply, his hands shaking in anger, Robbie barked out, "Why not? If he's hurt her like that then he deserves to pay for it."

"Aye, you're right, he does, but it's not right for us to drag that up if Jackie doesn't want people to know, we question him on that and it'll be round the station like wildfire. It has to be Jackie's choice to take it further. And hopefully we're jumping the gun on this."

"Aye, hopefully," Robbie muttered, turning to look out the window once more, the rest of the drive passing in a long protracted silence.

* * *

><p>"Talk us through what happened on Wednesday night, Greg," Burke encouraged him.<p>

Greg raised one eyebrow, stating meaningfully, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The night you abducted DS Reid," Robbie growled, he was struggling to keep his cool and wanted nothing more than to lunge across the desk and throttle him.

"I didn't abduct her," he replied.

"Ah, that'll be why she was tied up in your cabin then," Burke ground out sarcastically. "I take it she strangled herself as well, hit herself in the face and broke her own ribs! You abducted her and then systematically beat her!"

Greg's cheek twitched with anger. "She wouldn't do as she was told!" he yelled back unthinkingly, his fists slamming down on the desk.

"That sounded like a confession," Robbie remarked dryly.

"No comment," Greg replied, the anger fading from his face, although his skin remained flushed with annoyance.

"We have a statement from our cousin that he helped you abduct DS Reid, and a witness who had identified you as being in the area, at that time, in the white van that we found outside your cabin. We have more than enough to charge you," Burke assured him.

Greg simply shrugged. "Fine," he replied in a bored voice.

"Then this interview is over," Burke concluded. "Interview terminated at 0534 hours."

The minute the tape was off, Greg asked, "How is Jackie?"

"Seriously ill," Robbie barked out.

His face paled. "But she'll recover? Won't she?" Both men stayed silent as Robbie hauled Greg to his feet. Greg turned and glared at Robbie, telling him, "I'm not going back to prison."

"You don't get a choice," he snarled in reply.

"Just tell me she'll be ok." Robbie passed him over to uniform for them to lead her into the cells, and as they pulled him away, taking some pleasure from the way he yelled out desperately this time, "Tell me!"

* * *

><p>Jackie blinked open her eyes, squinting slightly as she became aware of a small beeping noise in the background. Her neck ached but she still managed to tilt it backwards to see the monitor above her bed.<p>

Slowly she began to sit forward, wincing and letting out a murmur of pain as it pulled on her tense muscles and caused her side to throb. She felt awful, and all she wanted was a hot shower to try and ease the aches and so she felt a bit cleaner, because she felt grotty.

Moving to throw her legs over one side, she winced when she felt a stinging, pulling pain in her arm. Glancing down she saw that she had a line in her arm connecting her to a bag of fluid and that she had leads stuck all over her.

Leaving the one in her arm alone, she disconnected the wires that were clipped to circular stickers that were on her skin. The machine let out a high pitched wail that prompted a nurse to rush into the room. "Oh, you're awake," she remarked in surprise. Her eyes then narrowed when she saw that Jackie was about to get up. "You're really supposed to be taking it easy," she told her gently.

Jackie had to clear her throat before she spoke, asking her, "I'd like to go for a shower, is there anyway you can take this off for a while?" she gestured towards the drip.

"I could bung it off for a little while, but you might not be very steady on your feet."

"Please just take it off," Jackie sighed tiredly, she knew that the woman was trying to do what was best for her, but she'd had enough of taking orders. "And if you could get me some soap and shampoo I'd appreciate it."

The nurse eyed her for a minute, before deciding that her patient was determined so talking her out of it was a no go. "Wait there for a few minutes and I'll bring you stuff through and then bung you off that drip for a little while."

"Thank you," Jackie muttered, watching the woman go.

When she came back, the nurse placed the towel and basic toiletries she'd brought in with her in the bathroom. "How are you feeling?" she asked her as she disconnected the drip.

"Tired," she replied quietly. "And sore."

"I can get you some painkillers after this if you feel you need them."

"I think I might take you up on that," Jackie told her, managing a weak smile. She stayed silent for another moment before she asked, "How long have I been here?"

"A few hours," the nurse told her. "You're in our high dependency unit, you were pretty dehydrated when you came in, hence the drip, so we wanted to keep a close eye on you for the rest of the night. The doctor's are going to review you in the morning, then you might be moved to a normal ward."

Feeling a bit lost, Jackie glanced around the shadowed room. She could have sworn that Robbie was with her in the ambulance, but there was no sign of him now. Then again he had his own life to be getting on with. Swallowing her pride, she asked hopefully, "Did anyone come in with me?"

She nodded. "Two of your colleagues, a DCI Burke and a DI Ross did. But we're quite strict with visiting up here, so they were asked to go home."

Jackie wasn't sure if she was disappointed or if she felt relieved by that piece of news. "Anything else I should know?"

"You're battered and bruised and you have two broken ribs, so you'll need to be careful getting up. In fact it might be better if I give you a hand."

"No!" Jackie replied sharply as the woman made to help her up.

The nurse stared at her in shock, surprised at the reaction from her, she hadn't looked like the difficult kind.

Jackie bit down on her bottom lip. "Sorry," she whispered. "Just…" she trailed off, shaking her head.

The woman nodded, suddenly remembering the circumstances under which she'd been brought in. "It's fine, but you might struggle on your own."

"I'll be fine," Jackie bit out, wincing as she struggled to her feet, one hand flying to her side and the other flying out to the bedside table as her legs buckled, unused to standing.

The nurse lunged forward slightly, but Jackie shook her head. "I'm fine," she told her. "Just need a minute."

She moved back the, giving her space, but still watched her warily. Walking behind her as Jackie took a few shaky steps. It took her a while, but eventually she made it into the bathroom. "I can manage from here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well you still need to buzz me once your finished so I can walk you back through."

Nodding numbly, Jackie waited until the door was closed before she fumbled with the ties to the back of her gown, her eyes filling with tears, both from the pain it exerted on her ribs and the frustration over everything that had happened.

She scrubbed at her eyes with closed fists, wincing as even that movement irritated her bruises. She probably should have accepted help but it had been too much, she just wanted to be left alone. Greg had smothered her, insisting he was in control, so now she just wanted her control back.

Not only that but she wanted to feel clean again, she felt as though she needed to actually scrub her skin, if she'd had a wire brush she would have used it. She was so exhausted and sore that she had to sit down on the small flip down chair in the shower.

Finally she felt semi decent again - or at least as decent as she was going to feel - and she dried herself awkwardly before pulling on the clean gown that had been left out, fiddling around it to try and tie it closed. Reluctantly she pushed the call buzzer, the door creaking open only seconds later, and wordlessly Jackie got up, shrugging away the offer of help and shuffling back to the bed.

Lying back, she let the young woman put the drip back on and took the painkillers she offered her, gulping them down. Once that was done, she curled onto her good side, which thankfully faced away from the door and closed her eyes. Trying and failing to forget everything.


	9. Chapter 9

It was only down to sheer exhaustion combined with the painkillers she'd taken that Jackie managed to sleep, and even then it was only for a few hours. She was woken by the chatter of voices and the sound of laughter. Turning her head she saw the staff wheeling a linen trolley down the ward, hell bent on getting the morning routine started.

Sighing, she turned her head away, only to have to turn it back again a few minutes later when she heard a small voice call out, "Are you awake?"

Jackie turned to face her, noting it was a different nurse this time. "Uh huh," she replied quietly.

"Ok, well I'm Claire, I'm looking after you this morning. I was just wondering if you were wanting any painkillers?"

She frowned. "Didn't I just have some?"

Claire shook her head. "That was a couple of hours ago now."

Jackie was about to refuse them when she shifted slightly and pain rocketed through her. "I'll take them," she told her almost reluctantly.

"Ok," she smiled, holding out the small plastic cup. Jackie took them gratefully, before leaning back again. "How are you feeling?" Claire added.

"Fine," she replied shortly, she didn't want to make small talk for once, just wasn't in the mood for it at all.

"Can I take your blood pressure?"

She nodded her agreement, watching disinterestedly as the woman went about the routine, jotting down the numbers. She sent her a smile, telling her, "Everything looks better than it did last night. I just need to change over this bag of fluid and then that's me."

Again Jackie just nodded, turning her head to look out the window as the nurse got on with it. "Done," she told her cheerfully. "Now do you need anything?"

"Could you shut the door on your way out?" Jackie asked her shortly as she watched almost unseeingly the comings and goings of the car park a few floors below. She heard the woman's footsteps pad away from her bed, and heard the soft click of the door as she left the room.

Feeling the painkillers start to take effect, and feeling her head start to go fuzzy again, Jackie shut her eyes, grateful for the temporary reprieve from her thoughts.

* * *

><p>Robbie yawned as he stepped out of the car, pressing his hands into the small of his back and giving a small stretch. The hours in the car had not been kind to his already tired and strained muscles, but after a few hours sleep in the early hours of the morning, snatched after interviewing Greg Martin, he wasn't able to wait any longer to see Jackie, to make sure that she was ok.<p>

He walked past a coffee stand without pausing, even though he was craving caffeine. Following the signs up to the medical HDU, Robbie wasn't sure what emotion was most prominent, relief that he was getting to see her, possibly talk to her again, or apprehension over the fact she might still be unconscious, that things might have got worse, not better.

That fear was only increased when he was buzzed into the unit, the corridor filled with the sounds of bleeping machines, and the patients he could see out of the corner of his eyes through the open doors looked horrendous, pale, sick and hooked up to those numerous bleeping machines. As he approached the nursing desk, his feet slowed and he swallowed nervously. He flashed his badge, which always avoided the whole 'it's not visiting time, go away' problem, telling one of the nurses sitting there, "I'm here to see Jacqueline Reid."

A flicker of a frown passed the woman's face, and she pulled a book out of the top drawer, running her finger down the page that contained the day's date. "Ah," she smiled up at him, "She was moved down to Ward 5, one of the general medical ward's just after ward round this morning."

"Is that a good thing?" Robbie asked.

The nurse smiled reassuringly, "It is, yes. Do you need directions how to get there?"

"No, it's fine, I'll follow the signs," he assured her.

As a result of those words, Robbie left the ward in a much better mood than the one he'd arrived in. By the time he got to Ward 5, he was still anxious but not nearly as much as he had been beforehand.

Again he walked to the nurse's desk, this one looking more chaotic and bustling than the one upstairs. One woman lifted her head, asking briskly, "Can I help?"

"DI Ross, Maryhill CID, I'd like to see Jacqueline Reid."

The woman straightened from where she was bent over a folder of notes, shutting it over as she replied, "I'll just go check if she's up to seeing you, I'll be one minute."

Robbie watched as she headed towards a side-room, the door of which was closed, and slipped inside. He leaned against the desk, waiting patiently.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The room was dark, the curtains still pulled tightly shut over the window, but the occupant of the room wasn't asleep. Clearing her throat and gaining her patient's attention, Elaine smiled, telling her brightly, "You have a visitor, a DI Ross is here to see you."

Jackie turned her head back to stare at the curtains. "I don't want to see anyone," she replied quietly.

Elaine's smile faltered, she didn't quite know what to make of her patient, she knew from the handover that she'd been through hell but she wasn't sure if she was like this normally or if this behaviour should be concerning her. "He's travelled quite some way from the looks of things."

Jackie shrugged, wincing as she did so. "I didn't ask him to," she muttered.

"Ok…well do you need anything else?"

"No."

"Well if you do need anything then just use your buzzer, and remember to keep drinking plenty."

Jackie gave a small nod, but made no move towards the glass of water that was sitting on the bedside table.

Giving a small sigh, Elaine left the room, she felt a shudder of guilt ripple through her when she saw the man's hopeful smile on seeing her. Deciding it was best to get this over with quickly, she shook her head, telling him, "I'm sorry, she doesn't want to see anyone."

Robbie felt his jaw slacken, that he hadn't expected. "She said that?"

Elaine nodded, feeling distinctly sorry for the man, he looked as though she'd just slapped him. "She did," he confirmed.

Robbie glanced towards the room, noting that once more the door was closed. He ran a hand over his jaw. "How is she?" he finally asked, a note of desperation in his voice.

"Medically she's fine," she told him. "Her bloods are still slightly off but that's too be expected at this stage, so she'll probably be kept in for another few days."

"That's good…that she'll be fine I mean. Has…has she said anything?" he asked unsurely.

"Not really, she's been quite quiet, barely said a word." On seeing the expression on his face, she asked, "I take it she's not normally like that?"

"No, she's not," Robbie replied grimly. "Look can I not just slip in-"

"No," the nurse told him firmly. "She's made it clear she doesn't want to see anyone right now, I can't go against that. I'm sorry."

There was a moment's awkward pause before Robbie finally gave a reluctant nod and turned on his heel, walking out of the ward.

* * *

><p>Robbie glared at his mug of coffee, despite wanting it so badly earlier on, now he could barely bring himself to force it down his throat. He looked up towards the door instead, watching the comings and goings of the canteen and a note of surprise escaped his lips when he saw both Burke and Stuart walk in.<p>

It was Stuart who spotted him, nudging Burke who walked over to the table, while Stuart went to place their order. "What are you doing here?" Burke asked him. "Thought you'd went home."

"No, you told me to go home," Robbie replied dryly before giving a shrug and mumbling, "Wanted to talk to her, what are you two doing here?"

"We need a statement, thought it would be better if we did it rather than send uniform." Making an annoyed clicking noise, he added, "Not that she'll see us."

"Wouldn't see me either," Robbie admitted grudgingly. "I'm worried about her," he confided to his Boss.

Burke nodded grimly. "Me too, but if she won't see us then we can't force her."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Plan is to head back to the station, question Martin again. We'll come back tomorrow, see if she's feeling more up to it. You want to follow us back?"

He shook his head. "Nah, going to wait till visiting time, try again."

"Don't push it with her," the older man warned him. "She's been through enough, we don't need to make it any worse."

"That's not what I'm trying to do," Robbie snapped back.

"Just saying, be careful."

"Stuart's got your coffee," he told him dryly.

Burke looked over his shoulder to where Stuart was paying and gave a curt nod. "Aye, so he has." He got to his feet, giving his senior officer an appraising look before he walked towards Stuart and leaving the canteen.

* * *

><p>He stood in the crowd of people waiting to be let into the ward for afternoon visiting, stifling a yawn and trying to make sure that Jackie's nurse didn't see him in the crowd.<p>

As the doors opened, he made a beeline right for her room, slipping inside it before anyone could notice him. The room was dull and it was almost eerily silent. "Jackie?" he called out nervously, already he could see that she had her back to him.

"I told them I didn't want to see anyone," she replied, her voice lacking all of her usual exuberance.

"I snuck in," he admitted. "Wanted to see you were ok."

"I'm fine, so you can go now."

He stepped closer. "No I can't."

She sighed, finally shifting so that she could look at him, wincing as she did so. "What do you want?" she asked.

Even though he'd seen the marks the night before, in the cold light of day they looked even worse, the dark purple marring her pale skin, while her wrists were heavily bandaged. "Wanted to see you, to talk to you," he told her calmly.

Jackie looked away. She didn't want to talk, it wouldn't make things any better.

Regardless though he continued, walking towards the bed and sitting down on the chair next to it. "Jacks, I'm so sorry about what happened. I should have insisted that I'd take you home, should have-"

"It wasn't your fault," she told him quietly, honestly. "It was mine." Her mouth wobbled at that sentence, and her eyes left his again as she struggled to compose herself.

Robbie moved onto the bed and pulled her into his embrace, trying not to dwell too much on how tightly she held herself. He kissed the top of her head regardless, trying to show her that she didn't have anything to fear anymore as he told her, "This wasn't your fault."

"It was," she muttered quietly, tears now trickling down her cheeks. "I trusted him, I fell for him. If I'd listen to Taggart when he warned me-"

"I've looked at nothing else but that case for the last forty eight hours, Jacks and believe me there were a lot of people at fault in this one. You just got unlucky."

Finally she turned her head into his shoulder, openly crying as he held her close and tried to soothe her.


	10. Chapter 10

Only minutes passed before Robbie felt Jackie's shoulders - which were already rigid - tighten almost impossibly more. He heard her inhale sharply, as though in pain as she righted herself, her hands pushing him clumsily away. "I told them I didn't want to see anyone," she got out, her voice hard and cold, so unlike her usually warm tones.

"I told you, I wanted to talk to you."

"So I don't get a say," she choked out nastily.

Robbie shook his head, bewildered by her behaviour. "Of course you do, but I was worried, we were all worried, we wanted to see for ourselves that you were ok."

"Well you've seen me now, so you can go," Jackie told him.

"I don't really want to go," he confessed.

She shifted agitatedly on the bed, the gown riding up her thighs slightly and causing her to inadvertently flash the dark purple bruises that marked the skin. Robbie swallowed heavily at the sight of them, remembering the one massive question that was going unanswered. Catching what he was looking at, Jackie yanked the hem of the gown back down, telling him, "I know what you're thinking." He glanced up, and for the first time since they'd found her she let him meet her gaze. "He didn't…I mean I know how it looks and I thought for a while that-" she let out a shuddering breath. "But he didn't," she finished awkwardly, looking away again.

Robbie tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it away. His hands fell to his sides awkwardly, his lips set into a tight, thin, angry line at the way she'd looked so agonised when she'd let slip that she thought he might carry through an attack he'd obviously already started. "I could kill him," he ground out unthinkingly.

For the briefest of moments, Jackie could feel a smile pull at her lips, she knew it wasn't appropriate, but Robbie unthinkingly throwing threats around was a spark of normality in this situation. She turned her head towards him slightly. "Thank you," she whispered, her hand hovered over his for a moment, as though she was about to cover his with hers, but then she moved it away again.

"I mean it," he told her sincerely.

"I know you do." She sighed before adding, "I take it Burke wanted a statement."

"Yeah, he did. Thought it would be easier if he or Stuart took it, instead of sending uniform in."

"The less people who know the better basically," Jackie remarked bitterly.

"Not in the way you think," Robbie replied, coming to their bosses defence. "He just thought it might be easier on you."

"Too be honest I don't want to talk about it at all," she confided in him.

"But you have to," he told her.

"Do I though?" she questioned. "After all you caught him, he had me tied up, you have the vehicle he used to…" She trailed off, shook her head and then started again. "You have enough evidence to charge him."

"But the prosecution service will still want a statement from you before they take it any further, you this," he replied meaningfully. "Or they might not take it any further."

"He's going back to prison for the rest of his days anyway, it'll save me a court case," she shot back tonelessly.

"You don't mean that."

Her fists clenched. "Don't tell me what I do and don't mean!" she replied sharply, irritation flashing across her features.

"If you let him away with this, if you don't go ahead with this then you'll regret it, and you know you will. He deserves to be punished for all the crimes he's committed, not just some, and you need closure, you know you do."

Her cheeks flushed, he didn't get it, she didn't want to drag the whole sordid thing through a courtroom, have her past mistakes brought up in front of a jury. She didn't want to relive it, she just wanted to forget about it, for it all to go away. "I'd feel better if you'd just drop this," she told him, rubbing her forehead, wondering if she was due anymore painkillers soon, she really did ache all over.

"I'll drop it when you get your common sense back."

"Get out," she growled. "Get out now."

Realising he'd overstepped the mark, Robbie tried to backtrack, "I didn't mean that."

"Yes you did."

"Well then it came out wrong, all wrong."

"Story of your life," she replied as she lay down on the bed again, closing her eyes and turning away from him.

"Jackie I just want to help, and I think-"

"I don't care what you think!" she finally snapped, her back still to him.

He recoiled as though she'd slapped him, she'd never been so vicious towards him before and although he knew that this was her trying to deal with what she'd been through, he still wasn't sure how to react to her outburst. Sinking back in his chair he asked tiredly, "Do you want me to go?"

Jackie bit down on her bottom lip as she stared at the curtains, she might not want to talk about what had happened but she didn't want to be alone either. The silence ate away at her, much as it had when she'd been tied to that bed, spending long periods of it alone, while Greg had sulked at her supposed attitude. After a long few moments of deliberation, she finally shook her head. "No, I don't…but I don't want to talk about this anymore either."

He stared at her back, and stood up from the chair, slowly, almost unsurely and sat down on the edge of the bed, his hand resting on her shoulder. This time she didn't pull away, so he lay down next to her and draped his arm lightly over her waist.

She glanced down at his hand and slowly but surely she placed her hand over his, their fingers interlocking as she breathed in the familiar scent of aftershave, soap and something that was just him, and for the first time in the last few days she felt safe.

They lay in silence, her taking solace from his arm around her, from his presence and him just letting the relief that she was here with him, safe and physically well. He lowered his head to her dark hair, the strands of which were slightly waved, almost curled, and pressed a kiss to the back of her head. "You have no idea how glad I am to have you back."

"Thought I'd left you with the Boss and Stuart?" she asked, a small note of amusement creeping into her tone. "No wonder you were desperate to find me."

"I know, don't think either one of them would be able to stop me doing something unbelievably stupid, not like you can."

"You give me too much credit," she muttered.

"Ah, you see I've started too think that maybe I don't give you enough," he replied.

"You can make it up to me if you feel the need."

"I might," he laughed lightly.

They lapsed back into silence, this time it was more comfortable though, the atmosphere slightly less strained between them than it had been beforehand. Only a few minutes had passed before the shrill ring-tone of Robbie's phone broke into the shared moment between the pair of them. He sighed, telling her quickly, sincerely, "I can just let it go to voicemail."

"No…you should take it."

Still he hesitated, before finally, slowly sitting up, his hand still resting on her hip as he answered gruffly, "DI Ross. Uh huh, yeah fine, I'll be there as soon as I can."

He hung up and let out a low growl of annoyance. "I take it was work then?" Jackie asked needlessly.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Burke wants me back, wants me in on…" he finished his sentence abruptly, and Jackie knew exactly why.

"He wants you to question Greg, doesn't he?"

"Yeah…he does." He looked back down to see that her eyes were staring at the curtains again, and so he added quickly, "look Jackie I can stay here, Burke can take a running jump as far as I'm concerned."

Again that prompted another small smile. "You don't mean that."

"I bloody well do," he told her firmly. "You just say the word and I'll stay."

"You'll just get kicked out in a couple of minutes, think visiting finishes soon."

"I'll come back then, after we're done."

"Robbie that'll be hours from now, you need to sleep too."

"I can kip in the chair."

"I don't think the nursing staff would be too impressed with that," she replied.

"I might not get back here till tomorrow then," he grumbled, looking unhappy at this development.

"I'm a big girl," she replied, turning to look at him now, trying and failing to suppress the expression of pain that flickered across her features as she moved. "I can deal with that."

Still he looked reluctant to leave, hovering by the side of the bed. "Well if you need me then all you have to do is phone, or get the nursing staff to phone and I'll come straight here."

"Robbie, I mean it, I'll be ok."

He nodded and went to lean forward to kiss her cheek and Jackie couldn't help but flinch, flashing back to Greg looming over her. Robbie quickly drew back, eyeing her carefully, watching as she swallowed heavily, telling him quickly, "I'm fine, just…you should go." She needed time to compose herself, she didn't know why she'd suddenly reacted like that. She'd known it wasn't Greg and yet in that moment she'd felt her heart race in a sickening thump of panic.

To his credit, Robbie saw what she needed and just took a step back. "Well just remember what I said."

"I will," she assured him, managing another small smile as he finally left the room. As her door fell shut, she lowered herself back onto the pillows, she really did want those painkillers now, fuzzy oblivion had never seemed more inviting.

* * *

><p>"Burke wants to see you in his office," Stuart told Robbie the minute he stepped into the office a few hours later.<p>

"Right," Robbie grunted disinterestedly as he threw his jacket over the back of his chair, he might want Greg Martin locked up for as long as possible, but he hadn't wanted to leave Jackie alone either. She'd seemed so much more vulnerable than he'd ever seen her before and he didn't like it, he'd wanted to stay with her, try and provide even the tiniest modicum of comfort to her.

Stuart looked at him nervously, asking, "Did you see Jackie then?"

"Aye, I did."

"And how is she?"

"How do you think!" Robbie snapped, before instantly regretting it, running a harried hand through his hair. "She's pretty bruised up," he supplied quietly, "but they reckon she'll be out in a few days."

"Did she say anything, you know about what happened?"

"Not really." Robbie gave an irritated sigh. "Better go see, Burke."

He turned away from the younger man, knocking once on Burke's door before stepping inside. Burke looked up from his computer screen and leaned back in his chair, his fingers folding together. "Any luck?"

"If you mean did I talk to Jackie, then yes, I did."

He gave a slow nod. "And what did she say?"

"She doesn't want to make a statement."

Burke's eyes widened. "I hope you talked her into it," he growled, his chins quivering in annoyance.

"I tried, but she didn't want to hear it."

"Well then try again!"

"We might be better to give her some time, we have enough evidence to charge him just now, and I'm sure in a day or two she'll come round and give us a statement."

Burke eyed him carefully. "You don't really believe that," he ground out, "do you?"

"I don't know, but I do know that we can't force her."

"I'm not talking about forcing her, but…Jesus Robbie! Her statement could make or break this conviction, we need it."

"Getting a statement from her shouldn't be our main concern," he got out, realising that he actually meant it. If she couldn't go through with talking about what had happened then he would still support her, still ensure that Martin went down for as long as possible.

"It's not, but-" Burke was interrupted by the knock at his office door. "What is it!" he barked out, his head snapping to look in the direction of the door.

Stuart stuck his head round. "Boss, we have a problem, the desk sergeant's just found Greg Martin hanging in his cell."


	11. Chapter 11

The three men all but ran to the cells, past the uniformed officers who were lined up along the corridor, looking grim.

There were two officers leaning over Greg Martin, performing mouth to mouth that Robbie instantly knew was futile. His eyes were half shut, glazed, his neck at a slightly strange angle. Shredded bed sheets that had very obviously formed a makeshift noose were thrown to one side, with some still hanging from the ceiling, the sliced ends fluttering like ribbons.

"Let me through," the police doctor instructed calmly as he fought his way past the crowd. He crouched down beside the body, his face instantly falling into a grim expression, his lips set in a thin line as he pressed his fingers against Greg's neck. "How long do we think he was up there?"

The custody sergeant stuttered his answer nervously, "Not sure, I checked in about half an hour ago and he was fine, was just sitting on the bed. Never thought he'd…" The man trailed off, his face blanching as he launched himself to one side and threw up in the corner of the cell.

"Jesus," Burke muttered under his breath, looking both disgusted and annoyed at this turn of events.

The doctor barely batted an eyelid. "He's gone," he told them confidently. "Looks like he broke his neck instantly, be a waste of time trying to bring him back, down time's been at least twenty minutes I'd say." He got to his feet, rubbing his knees down as he did so. "So unless anyone's particularly keen for me to drag this out I'll just call time of death." He looked around the room, and saw Burke give the smallest of nods. Taking that as his go-ahead, he announced, "Time of death, 16.43. I'll leave you lot to it then."

At his words, the uniformed officers who'd appeared to gawk at the scene quickly dispersed, not wanting to face the DCI's legendary wrath. Burke stared down at the broken body, his lips curling in distaste, turning to the desk sergeant he barked out, "My office, now!"

He turned on his heel and stormed out, the still pale and shaking man following him warily, his eyes flickering over Greg Martin's body as he went, his teeth sinking into his bottom lip until they near enough drew blood.

Robbie glanced down at the body dispassionately, commenting firmly, "For once the bastard's actually went and done us a favour."

Stuart didn't reply, he stood there looking shell shocked and for a brief moment Robbie thought he saw a flicker of guilt across his features.

* * *

><p>Jackie wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball on her side, but thanks to the dull aching in her ribs that simply wasn't possible. She felt that overwhelming wave of self recrimination and regret pulling at her again, she hated herself for feeling like this but at the same time she knew that she only had herself to blame for what had happened. If she hadn't been so stupid when she'd been sent undercover, if only she hadn't fallen for his lies.<p>

She shut her eyes and with her earlier painkillers wearing off and no blissful oblivion to sink into, she felt like she had in that room, watched. Her eyes flew open again, darting nervously around the room, checking again that it was empty and she was alone, a low hiss of breath escaping her when she saw that it was and she was.

Her fingers curled in and out of her palms as she tried to calm her breathing down, tried to make herself shut her eyes again. It was as though he were still there though, still sitting next to her, watching her.

Bringing her hands to her forehead, she pressed the palms of her hands against the skin, as though she were trying to push the memories out of her head. She wanted this to stop, wanted to just forget what had happened and yet she couldn't, couldn't seem to stop every single moment over and over in her head, as though it were a video stuck on bloody repeat. She could still hear his voice in her ear, could feel his hands as they moved over her, grabbing at her, his wet mouth pressing against her skin, his weight pinning her down and being unable to push him away.

Letting out a deep shaky breath, she looked once more around the room, reassuring herself once more that he really wasn't there. Her eyes watered with tears of frustration, she felt like she was failing, at everything, everything seemed so bloody awful right now.

There was a small knock at the door, and reluctantly Jackie turned her head, her forehead creasing in confusion when she saw the familiar form of Jean Taggart and her wheelchair in the doorway. She blinked, silently wondering if she was starting to see things. "Jean?"

The older woman smiled as she wheeled into the room. Her once blonde hair was now pure white and tied up in a slightly straggly looking bun, her kind face now creased with wrinkles and her eyes still held that spark that they'd always had. "It's nice to see I haven't been forgotten."

"No you haven't, we've not been the best at keeping in touch though, have we?"

Jean gave a small shrug. "I suspect we're both to blame for that, that perhaps for a while we reminded each other of how much things had changed and who'd we'd lost."

"Maybe," Jackie murmured. Still feeling like she was one step behind, she asked after a moment's hesitation, "I'm sorry Jean, but what are you doing here? I mean how did you even know I was in hospital?"

She was by the side of the bed now, her kind eyes sympathetic as she replied, "Your workmates came to talk to me, I was the only link they had to the case." Jean let out a deep sigh, "Everyone else who worked that case is either dead or unreachable."

Jackie felt herself shiver at those words, it wasn't a pleasant thought, after all that case was only twelve years ago and things had changed so much.

The older woman continued, her face tilting to the side as she eyed Jackie sympathetically. "A DI Ross called me this morning to let me know that you'd been found, I suppose I wanted to see for myself that you were ok."

"I'm fine," Jackie replied curtly, then regretting the outburst instantly added a bit more softly, "It was nice of you to come all this way just to check on me."

"I was setting my own conscience at ease as well," Jean admitted candidly.

Turning to look at her in surprise, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"I felt guilty, after all it was Jim who got you into this in the first place.

Jackie shook her head. "No it wasn't, it wasn't his idea and he did try to pull me out, I wouldn't let him."

"It might have been Michael's idea, but Jim should have pulled him back and he should have pulled you out earlier. He knew you were having doubts long before he tried to get you out of there, even he admitted that he should have acted sooner." Her face seemed to age ten years, her eyes dulling with sadness as she spoke about her late husband, admitting, " Sometimes I'm glad he's not here to see how certain things turned out. This would have ate away at him, and as for what happened to Michael…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "That might have just killed him."

"They always were close," Jackie replied, a wry smile on her face as she thought back to the pair of them. She knew that some officers had felt put out by the close relationship, but she had never found it an issue, never felt excluded in any way shape or form.

"Yes…it was one of the reasons that I didn't make the biggest of efforts to keep in touch with him; or you for that matter, after a while it just became too painful. It was easier to move away, to go and live with Alison and forget about what had been left behind. I'm ashamed of that now."

"Michael understood your decision," Jackie told her, trying to offer some reassurance.

"Just because he understood it, it doesn't mean I made the right one. I couldn't even face the funeral, it seemed to difficult, too many ghosts to face."

"You not going didn't change anything, so you should stop feeling guilty," she replied, patting Jean's weathered looking hand.

"Are you going to?"

Jackie looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

"Are you going to stop feeling guilty for something that wasn't your fault. You didn't encourage this man, you were a victim."

"I hate that word," she ground out.

"And I don't blame you, but you were not at fault here."

"I do know that," Jackie finally confided in her. "But I can't seem to stop thinking about it, keep replaying it-" She stopped talking abruptly, as though she'd suddenly decided she'd said too much.

"Don't shut people out," Jean tried to tell her. "Even if you don't want to talk to me, you should talk to someone."

Giving a somewhat bitter laugh, she replied, "I don't want to talk about it, I just want it all to go away."

"As much as you try to forget about it, it won't just get better all by itself."

"Jean, please just leave it alone."

After a few moments, Jean gave a small nod. "If that's what you want, although if you ever change your mind and want someone to talk to then I'm always here. We all have to face what we want to hide from in the end, I did."

"Jean…" Jackie mumbled warningly, her patience fraying.

"Anyway," Jean changed the subject rapidly. "We have ten years to catch up on, so I suppose we better start now."

* * *

><p>Robbie eyed Stuart suspiciously as he watched the younger man stare out of the window absentmindedly and tap his fingers nervously off his desk, his face pale and his eyes wide. "What's wrong?" he asked shortly<p>

Stuart just about jumped out of his skin. "Nothing, just you know, seeing the body."

Robbie's nose wrinkled. "We've seen a lot worse than that. So what makes this one different?"

His lips pulled together into a straight line, and he looked almost panicked. Robbie frowned. "Alright, I know when something's up, now what is it?"

The younger DC moved closer to him, admitting quietly, "I think it's my fault he killed himself."

"And why would you think that?"

He swallowed nervously. "Because when I put him back into the cell he asked me how Jackie was, said you wouldn't tell him. He'd been so cool and calm throughout that interview, no commented his way through the entire thing and this was the one time I saw him show any emotion. I wanted him to feel bad."

"So what exactly did you tell him?" Robbie asked, his voice low so that they couldn't be overheard.

"I don't remember the exact words but I made out like Jackie wasn't going to make it, dropped a few hints about him facing another murder charge."

Robbie's eyes widened. "Why they fuck would you do that!"

Stuart shrank back. "Because of what he did to Jackie, I've heard you and Burke whispering, saw her when they put her into the ambulance. I wanted him to hurt like he'd hurt her." He swallowed heavily. "When I turned to leave he told me that one way or the other he wouldn't live without her, and I said…I said he might just have to."

"Fuck," Robbie cursed, his breath a low hiss. "When was this?"

"About forty five minutes before they found him."

"Did anyone hear you?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Good, then we keep it quiet."

Stuart's eyes widened. "What?"

"Burke's already determined that the custody staff weren't at fault, that they followed instructions and protocol to the letter. No-one's in the frame for this, and do you really think it'll help Jackie to hear this lunatic killed himself because he thought it meant they could be together?"

"No, of course not but-"

"But nothing," Robbie returned his voice hard. "Let this drop, Stuart, for everyone's sake because what's done is done."


	12. Chapter 12

Robbie hesitated in the doorway to Jackie's hospital room before finally bringing up his hand and rapping his knuckles against the door. He watched as her face turned from the window to look at him, a ghost of a smile crossing her features. "You can come in," she told him gently.

Nodding mutely, he stepped into her room. It seemed that every time he saw her at the moment the bruising on her face looked worse. It was dark purple now, marring the previously pale perfection of her skin, and the thought of how much it must hurt her made him swallow heavily. "I…I was going to bring you flowers but they're not allowed."

"You don't need to bring me anything."

"You deserve a bit of spoiling at the moment."

Her face shuttered at that and he mentally kicked himself for opening his mouth and saying that. After a moment though her expression cleared and she told him, "You know that you can sit down."

Sitting down on the hard plastic visitor's chair in the corner of her room, he realised that he was too far away from her to break his news. So he awkwardly shuffled forward, still on the seat until he was next to the bed. Jackie arched an eyebrow at him before asking him suspiciously "What's wrong, Robbie?"

"I have some news for you."

"About the case?" she asked, and Robbie realised that for the first time since he'd met her he could see an undertone of panic in her expression, and he hated seeing it there.

"Yeah…" he shifted on the uncomfortable chair before he told her, almost bluntly, "Jackie, Greg Martin killed himself this morning."

He had to admit that he'd hoped she'd be relieved by the news, that she'd see that he couldn't hurt her anymore. Instead her face went pale, her skin starkly white against the bruising. "What?" she whispered.

"Not long after we re-interviewed him, he…we went into the cells and he was…he'd hung himself," he concluded awkwardly. He'd broken bad news God only knew how many times before but this was different, this was Jackie he was telling.

She blinked rapidly as she tried to figure out exactly how she felt about this news. Part of her realised that in a way she should be relieved, maybe even happy about this, he was gone, he couldn't hurt anyone else, but the other part was so angry that he'd taken the cowards way out, that he wouldn't be punished for what he'd done to her. It wasn't only that but more worryingly she felt as though he could still see her, which was insane considering that she didn't even believe in an afterlife. She felt like she'd never escape what he'd done now.

"Jackie…" Robbie called out her name softly, and she realised that his hand was now covering hers.

She drew her hand away, ignoring the flash of hurt across his features when she did it. "I'm fine," she told him sharply. "Do you know why he did it? Did he leave a note."

"No, he didn't."

"So we don't know why he did it, did he not tell anyone? He would have wanted people to know, I know he would have." Her voice was getting louder, growing more and more out of control and she wasn't even sure why. That was when she saw Robbie look away for the briefest of seconds, looking guilty, she jumped on it. "You know something, tell me!" she demanded.

"What does it matter?" he asked. He didn't want to tell her the reason behind the suicide, he already didn't like the way that she'd reacted to what she had been told.

"It matters to me," she told him sharply. "So tell me."

Robbie let out a soft sigh. "Stuart exaggerated your condition, knowing that it was the one thing that would bother him, trying to get him to react, to get him to feel guilty, show some remorse. He made out he was heading for a murder charge and before he left the cell, Greg warned Stuart that he wouldn't…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

Jackie pushed forward though. "What, what wouldn't he do?" she asked insistently.

"Wouldn't live without you," he finally admitted.

"And Stuart was the last person to see him alive?" Jackie asked.

"No…the custody officer looked in about fifteen minutes later, said he was sitting on the bed, didn't react to him at all."

Jackie could feel herself start to panic, she felt guilt crushing down on her, and she wasn't entirely sure why. Her head dipped and she could hear her panicked breathing reverberating in her own mind. She felt Robbie's hand press against her back in what she knew was meant to be a comforting gesture, but it just made her feel trapped.

She jerked away from him. "No," she muttered under her breath.

He drew his hand back quickly. "Jackie, I…"

"Get out," she told him lowly. "I want you to leave."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," he replied.

Her head didn't lift, her eyes still staring at the light blue blanket that was stretched across her bed. "I've asked you to leave, so please do it, please," he voice was a near plead.

Robbie hesitated, he didn't want to leave her alone like this but he knew it was important to her that he do as she'd asked, for her to be able to retain some of the control that they last few days had taken from her. Finally he got slowly to his feet. "I meant what I said earlier, Jackie, if you need me…" he tailed off, throwing her one last look before he turned to walk away.

"Shut the door behind you," she told him quietly.

He did so, the finality of that click echoing around the room. Jackie leaned back against the pillows, twisting onto her side and ignoring the pain that movement brought. Over the last few days she'd have quite happily seen Greg dead, would have done the deed herself at one point, but knowing he was dead now just made her feel hollow.

She bit down on her bottom lip, squeezing her eyes shut. She knew that you couldn't wish someone dead and that really this wasn't her fault, but that didn't rid her of the guilt. He'd killed himself because he thought she was going to die, and that made her feel like she'd never be free of him, that his spectre would always be over her shoulder.

And even though she'd said she wouldn't press charges she'd still taken comfort knowing that he'd go to prison, that he'd be punished. Now, now she felt like he'd gotten away with all of it, she knew for a fact that the case would be forgotten, relegated to a filing cabinet somewhere, which wasn't what she wanted now that he'd escaped retribution, because she still had to live with what he'd done.

* * *

><p>Despite everything, Robbie found himself unable to leave the hospital, he knew she'd asked him to leave but if there was any chance that she'd want to see him then he had to stay close. So he headed towards the canteen, sitting down at a cheap wooden table, his paper cup of coffee resting in front of him, steam rising gently from it.<p>

He took a sip and grimaced, far too watery but then it was still better than nothing. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, he'd never been good at this part of the job, the bit where you comforted the victim, and before this it had never bothered him.

Now that it was Jackie though, it bothered him, he loathed the fact that he didn't seem to be able to get it right with her. A task that had seemed so trivial before was now vital.

In the end he wasn't sure how long he sat there for, although it was long enough for his coffee to go stone cold. He jumped slightly in his seat when the shrill ring of his phone started and then stopped just as abruptly without him even having time to fumble around in his pockets to find it.

He drew it out and stared at the screen, his heart thudding in his chest when he saw he had a missed call from Jackie, as though she'd rang him and then suddenly and abruptly changed her mind. It was more than enough for him to get to his feet and shrug on his jacket before making his way back to the ward.

* * *

><p>Jackie looked up as the door to her room creaked open, and despite the fact that she'd asked Robbie to leave earlier that day, she'd never been happier to see him standing there. "I saw that you'd called," he told her by way of explanation as to why he had came back.<p>

Jackie gave a short nod, her lips still pulled tight as she replied, "Yes…but I thought you'd be driving so I hung up."

"Was just downstairs," he told her needlessly even though she'd already figured that out by the speed in which he'd make it to her room.

She nodded again, and she was horrified by the fact that she could feel her mouth trembling, one of the first signs that she was going to burst into tears. On seeing this, Robbie stepped quickly forward, sitting down next to her on the bed, even though he knew that it was against the rules, at this point in time he just didn't care.

He was relieved when she let him pull her into a hug - not too tight because of her ribs, but tight enough for her to feel safe and comforted. She pressed her head against his shoulder, her tears seeping through his jacket as she whispered quietly, "I hate feeling like this."

"It's allowed though," he told her, kissing the top of her head and continuing. "And I don't mind, whatever helps Jacks."

She didn't comment on the fact he'd shortened her name, found it strangely comforting in fact. "Stay," she got out quietly.

He nodded, fingers raking through her hair as he replied, "Course I will."

"Even though you'll be on the chair?"

Robbie chuckled, relieved to hear the small hint of teasing in her tone, a sign that not all was lost. "Even though you're making me take the chair," he told her. "Although I will be forwarding my chiropractor bills to you."

She gave the softest of laughs and it was like music to his ears.


	13. Chapter 13

**A short chapter I know but I need to get back into the way of writing this and I'm going to use this one to move us onto the next section.**

**Hope you enjoy and sorry for the wait :)**

* * *

><p>Somewhere in the recess of his mind, Robbie was aware of the door to Jackie's room opening. He sat suddenly bolt upright, his eyes flying to the door, ignoring the crick that he now had in his neck from a result of dozing in the high-backed chair, and he only relaxed when he saw the nurse step quietly into the room.<p>

Sinking back into the chair, he offered her a small smile. Her eyes flickered over him curiously before looking over at Jackie. "I was going to offer her painkillers," she told Robbie quietly, "but if she's sleeping then I don't want to wake her." Her fingers bounced off the pocket of her uniform as she added, "When she wakes up let her know that if she needs anything she only has to buzz."

"I will," Robbie assured her, rubbing at his neck, his face set into a grimace as it suddenly dawned on him just how uncomfortable he was.

The nurse suppressed a smile. "I'll be back in to check on her shortly," she told him, before turning on her heel and leaving the room, the door closing with a quiet click.

Still rubbing at his neck, and grumbling under his breath about the chair, Robbie looked over to where Jackie was sleeping. He hadn't been there long before she'd started to drift off, the stress of the day finally getting to her, exhaustion taking over.

His eyes drifted over her face, a frown tugging at his features, even while she slept she looked tormented, her face set into a grimace. He let out a deep breath, over the last day the bruises that marred her face had taken on a sickly yellow colour around the edges, making the purple seem even darker.

His fist clenched, despite the fact that Jackie was obviously stricken by the news that Martin was dead, he was glad, the only thing that he regretted was the fact that he hadn't gotten to kill him with his own bare hands. He couldn't believe that someone could have hurt her like this. Jackie had seemed indestructible, he'd seen her in tight spots before and she'd always managed to get out of them, sometimes just out of sheer determination, and he loathed the fact that someone had managed to make her so vulnerable. He wanted nothing more than to fix everything for her, to make everything better., but he just didn't know how.

His glare deepened when he heard her whimper under her breath, her breathing becoming harsher as she shifted restlessly under the thin white sheets that covered her. Getting stiffly to his feet, Robbie moved closer to her, unsure of whether or not he should wake her up.

The decision however was taking out of his hands when her eyes suddenly shot open, darting worriedly around the room and she shrank back when she saw his shadowy figure looming over her. "It's just me, Jacks," he told her calmly, trying to ignore the smarting feeling that her reaction provoked in him.

For a moment she just stared at him, her brown eyes still wide. Suddenly she nodded jerkily, her hand rubbing anxiously over the bed sheet, her voice shaking as she replied, "I thought…" She trailed off, shaking her head. She didn't want to say that for a brief moment she'd been convinced it was Greg towering over her. All she wanted to do was forget and yet for some reason she just couldn't, and somehow the fact that he was dead made it worse, made her feel like his presence was constantly looming over her, that wherever she went he'd always be right behind her. It wasn't even just that, but she hated seeing the expression of hurt and disbelief that always appeared on Robbie's face whenever she pulled away from him. He simply didn't deserve that from her. "It doesn't matter," she told him finally. "I'm sorry."

A confused frown flickered across his features. "Why are you sorry?"

"For the way I reacted when I saw you."

He gave a shrug. "You were half asleep and considering what you've just been through I'm not surprised that you're jumpy."

She sighed as she sank back against the pillows again. "I hate feeling like this," she told him quietly.

"It won't be forever," he tried to assure her, "It'll get better."

"Will it?" she asked. "I used to say that to people in situations like this, but now I'm on the other side of it," she gave a bitter laugh, "it just doesn't feel that simple."

"It might sound like a platitude but you really are safe now. He can never hurt you or anyone else again."

"You're right it does sound like a platitude," she told him, a small smile tugging at her features as she reached out and squeezed his hand. "But thanks for trying."

"I quite often find that I'm trying," he laughed almost awkwardly.

A sound close to a chuckle escaped from Jackie. "That's very true." She looked up at him. "Why are you being so nice to me anyway?"

"Because I need you back at the station to clean up my messes again," he confided in her.

This time she did laugh. "I should have known it was all for selfish reasons."

His face broke into a relieved smile at the sound of her laughter. "You didn't even let me finish."

Her face straightened, mouth still twitching with the ghost of a smile as she replied teasingly, "Oh I'm sorry, do continue."

He shot her a warning look. "I was going to say that the office was quiet without you."

"Let me guess now you're not so sure you want me back?"

It was a joke, but for Robbie it was too close to the bone. It took him back to those days when he wasn't sure if he would hear or see her again. He swallowed heavily, his expression graver he met her gaze once more, telling her sincerely, "Believe me I've never been so relieved to be back on the receiving end of your razor sharp wit. You had me worried for a while there, Jacks."

"Well don't worry, I'll be back making your life a misery before you know it."

"You've got yourself confused with Burke, you make the whole ordeal bearable," he told her, his smile firmly back on his face.

"You better not have a whole load of crap for me to deal with when I get back."

"As if I would," he replied, leaning back in his chair, his grin widening. "You wanting something to eat?"

Her nose wrinkled. "I've seen the food they serve up here, I know I have to eat but I'm certainly not going to start eating extra."

Robbie chuckled. "I was thinking more along the lines of me nipping out and grabbing us a Chinese."

Jackie's eyes widened. "Now that sounds good, I know I asked you to stay for a reason. I don't have any cash on me though."

"My treat," he told her casually as he got her feet. "You wanting your usual?"

"Uh huh, and remember the prawn crackers."

"As if you'd let me forget," he snorted as he grabbed his jacket, heading for the door.

Jackie's smile faded when the door shut behind him. Looking around the empty room she tried and failed to suppress a shudder, now that she was alone she suddenly couldn't help but feel as though the wall were closing in on her. She felt watched, shutting her eyes, she squeezed them tightly together, trying to get rid of the feeling.

It didn't go away and she bit back tears of frustration at what she perceived to be her own weakness.


	14. Chapter 14

**Didn't realise how long I'd left this story, but it's proving more difficult to write a traumatised Jackie than I thought.**

* * *

><p>"Ready to go?" Robbie asked as he walked into Jackie's hospital room a few days later.<p>

She nodded, although she stayed seated in the high-backed chair by her bed. "I'm not sure what to do with all these flowers though," she admitted, glancing wryly around the room that was all but filled with bouquets.

"I don't think we want to attempt to drive back to Glasgow with all of those balanced on the back seat," he replied wryly. "Leave them here."

"I'll feel bad just leaving them all."

"Don't, people can find other ways to spoil you."

"I don't want spoiled," she told him dryly.

"Everybody wants to be spoiled," he scoffed.

"Well I'm fed up with people fawning over me," she told him feelingly. "I just want to go home."

"Ah, well I can help out on that one," he replied, holding out his hand, "Your chariot awaits."

"Your lines are getting worse," she answered wincing slightly as she got to her feet, shaking her head as he lurched forward to help her. "No," she told him firmly, "I can manage."

He frowned as he watched her get slowly to her feet, his hands twitching as he struggled not to reach out and steady her, his lips pursing into a thin line. "You sure you don't want to go and stay with someone for a few days?" he finally asked. "You're not exactly moving about easily."

"I'll manage," she replied, her teeth gritted in determination. "And anyway staying with one of my brother's and their family would really drive me mad. They were bad enough when I was in here."

Robbie wasn't sure how to answer that, he'd never met them. Burke had dealt with Jackie's family while she'd been missing - he'd been too distracted - and his visiting hours afterwards had been completely out of whack with what the ward recommended. "At least they care," he finally got out.

Jackie managed a small smile. "I know they do, but they jump around me and fuss about, then they start arguing." She shook her head. "It's not very restful."

He chuckled. "I can only imagine." Looking around the room he asked, "You got a bag?"

"Yeah, it's in the corner," she told him.

"Right." He threw the hold-all over his shoulder. "Lets get going then, sure you're desperate to get out of here."

"Absolutely." She smile softly, letting him link his arm with hers and as much as she insisted that she didn't want to be mollycoddle she liked the fact that he'd slowed his pace so that she could walk comfortably with him, and that he didn't once try to insist she leave in a wheelchair. The nurse who'd suggested that had found herself on the receiving end of an icy glare until she'd shrank back, and left the room.

Robbie had to hide his look of concern, as by the time they reached the lift her steps had slowed and her fingers were digging into his forearm. "Jacks, we can stop if you need to."

"No…" she replied, her teeth gritted. After another few steps she shut her eyes and snapped in frustration, "God I hate this! I feel so bloody useless ."

"It'll get better," he tried to assure her.

"It damn well better."

"There's seats over there," he told her as he tried to steer her towards them.

"Don't you dare," Jackie growled, pulling his arm as hard as she could manage in an attempt to pull him back in the direction of the lifts.

Despite the seriousness of the situation he couldn't help but smile, shaking his head at her impatience, at least one thing hadn't changed. "You know there's no shame in slowing down."

Tilting her face to look up at him, she arched an eyebrow and replied dryly, "Because you're well known for taking things easy. Weren't you the man who went into an army training camp to catch a murderer? And didn't you get up and persist in irritating the deranged student who shot you in the arm?

"That was different," he answered, trying not to laugh.

She gave a snort of derision. "Was it hell."

He gave an amused shrug, refusing to be drawn into an argument. "You know I won't think any less of you," he told her.

Her features softened. "I know you won't but I will, I want everything to just go back to the way they were."

"Hmmm," he mumbled unconvinced that it was going to be that easy for her. Whether she liked to admit it or not, she'd been through a lot and he didn't think it would be as simple as her just trying to push it to the back of her mind and pretending it didn't happen. "Why don't we just take our time," he suggested.

"Because if we go any slower then that woman on the zimmer frame is going to overtake us," she replied dryly.

He laughed. "It's not a race."

"Good thing too, because we'd be losing," Jackie answered as they stepped into the lift.

It was dark and dingy, the air stale, and as the doors closed over she instantly remembered being back in that van. Remembered the panic, remembered how helpless she'd felt. She shut her eyes, letting out a rush of breath as she tried to clam herself down, told herself that she wasn't back there.

"Are you ok?" Robbie asked, noticing how she'd suddenly paled, her features drawn tightly together, her eyes screwed shut. She nodded shortly, just as the lift doors opened and her face cleared as she walked out as quick as she could.

He followed her, refusing to just let the issue drop, "Jackie what was that?"

"I just felt claustrophobic," she snapped.

"You don't get claustrophobic," he replied.

"Where did you park the car?" Jackie asked, trying to distract him and move the subject along.

"Over there," he replied, nodding in the direction he was referring to before continuing with his original line of questioning. "Jacks, I want you to answer me. What was that?"

"I told you," she answered, trying to pull her arm free of his, her frown deepening when he simply tightened his hold.

"And I told you that I don't believe you."

"I just didn't like being closed in like that," she admitted through gritted teeth. "It felt like…" she trailed off, refusing to take the conversation any further.

Robbie didn't need her to say anything else though, he didn't know what exactly she was referring to but he knew it was related to her ordeal. "Jackie, if you ever want to talk about it then I'm here."

She didn't even look at him as she replied, "I don't want to talk about it."

* * *

><p>Despite the bad start the drive back to Glasgow was actually quite pleasant, and if it hadn't been for the nasty bruises on Jackie's face that kept catching his eye, Robbie could have mistaken it for just a normal day. She even slapped his hand when he reached out once more to change the radio station, telling him, "Leave it, I like that song."<p>

He'd simply grinned and rolled his eyes, secretly relieved that she was more like herself than she had been earlier. In fact everything had been going perfectly up until the point they drew closer to Jackie's street and Robbie couldn't help but notice that her hands were clenched so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

He didn't mention anything, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it if he mentioned it. So he drove on, only to find that as he was about to turn to drive into her street she told him quietly but firmly, "Stop the car."

He slowed the car but didn't stop it, as he turned to ask, "Why do you want me to stop? You're almost home."

"Stop the car!" she all but yelled, and this time there was no missing the panic in her voice. Robbie swerved neatly into the side of the road so he was out the way of any passing cars before hitting the brakes.

He turned to look at her. "Jacks, what the hell is going on?"

Jackie shook her head. "I can't go back there, not yet." She let her head fall back against the back of the seat. She felt panicked and trapped, she couldn't even look down her street without remembering that moment when Greg had grabbed her.

He'd known where she'd lived, had managed to take her from the place she'd felt safest. She hadn't told anyone but she still had nightmares, sometimes felt as though he were still near her which was ridiculous but it was how she felt. When she'd lain in that hospital bed at night she'd felt like he was going to appear at anytime, just as he'd done when he'd kept her shut away. Sometimes she even felt as though she could still feel his hands on her skin, he might be dead but she still didn't feel safe.

She couldn't bring herself to look at Robbie's face but she could see the dark look on his face out of the corner of her eye, the look he got when he had to be held back from beating the crap out of someone. "If he hadn't done us all a favour and hung himself I would have killed that son of bitch," he growled.

"I'll be fine in a minute," she tried to tell him, although even to her own ears she sounded fake.

"Jackie come stay with me," he suggested.

She shook her head. "I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because you have your own life to get on with, you don't need me in your flat, cramping your style."

"You won't be, you know I like having you around."

"Not twenty four seven."

"It won't be twenty four seven, I'll at work during the day and so you can recuperate in peace. I mean in all honesty, Jacks you probably shouldn't be alone all the time at the moment anyway, you've been told to take things easy, this way I can spoil you."

She managed a small smile. "You've spoiled me enough," she told him.

"I keep telling you there's no such thing as being too spoiled. You've already said you don't want to stay with your family, so why not me?"

"We might drive each other mad."

"We might," he agreed. "Only one way to find out though."

She drew her lips together thoughtfully. "It won't be for long," she replied.

"As long as you need."

"Just until I can move about a bit easier and I've got the dressings off my wrists."

He gave a nod, thanks to the deep gouges on her wrists she found them difficult and painful to move. He hadn't seen them since that first day but the thought of the wounds made his blood boil. "Whenever you're ready to go home. Now do you want to go pick up some more clothes the now?"

"No," she answered quickly. "I can make do with what's in that bag for just now."

"Ok then," he replied, noticing how she didn't even look in the direction of her flat but deciding not to mention it said instead, "Lets get you back to the flat and get you settled then."


	15. Chapter 15

"It's cleaner than I thought it would be," Jackie commented as Robbie let them into his flat.

He gave a low laugh. "I'm not always messy; every so often I have been known to clean up after myself."

"That doesn't sound like the Robbie Ross I know and love," she teased him in reply. "I've been here a few times and it's never as immaculate as this."

He gave a small shrug. "Obviously I've seen the light to my slobbish ways and I'm a changed man."

"Bullshit," she snorted, her lips curling into a smile

Giving an almost mocking sigh, Robbie replied, "I can't win, can I?"

"Nope, never," she answered back quickly.

"Ah well in that case I suppose there's no point in trying to defend the numerous ways I've changed and I should just get on with the grand tour."

"The grand tour of a flat I know almost as well as my own?"

"Perhaps the living area but you've yet to be shown the bedrooms, and that is where the real magic happens," he shot back quickly, arching his eyebrow, trademark smirk in place.

"In that case my only hope is that you've changed the sheets in the guest bedroom."

His smirk faded, replaced by a wide grin and loud laugh, he was glad to see the old Jackie rear her head, she was never without a comeback. "Now there's that sparkling wit that I can't live without," he teased her warmly.

Her small smile flickered slightly the words tugging at memories she'd much rather forget all about. He appeared to have realised the effect his words had had and she watched as his colour faded slightly, and he shifted uneasily, she knew he was searching for a response and she hated that he felt like he had to placate her. Forcing her smile back into place she patted his arm briefly, telling him, "Well for the next few days you're going to have it in abundance."

Robbie's smile reappeared at those words. "Good," he replied firmly, draping his arm lightly around her shoulder. "So I'll show you the bedroom then."

"The spare bedroom," she reminded him teasingly.

"Spoilsport." Leading her into the clean but slightly sparse looking spare bedroom he placed her bag onto the bed and asked, "You wanting a hand to unpack?"

"No, I'm sure I'll be ok," she reassured him.

"I'll order us some dinner then, how does pizza sound?"

"Perfect," Jackie smiled. "Stuffed crust?"

"Of course." He turned to leave, hesitating at the door before moving back towards her. She shot him a confused frown but he felt her relax when he gave her a hug – mindful of her ribs – as he told her, "It's good to have you here, Jacks, and you know you can stay as long as you want."

She gave a small laugh, although it was more subdued than her norm, replying, "That's good to know but I'd hate to cramp your style."

"You never could."

* * *

><p>As Robbie flipped open the pizza box and dropped down into his seat, he noticed a small frown flicker across Jackie's face. "You're not going to bring up plates again, are you?"<p>

Laughing, she replied, "Knowing how you feel about eating takeout out of anything other than its original container but what I was going to say is that maybe I didn't think through us ordering pizza." She held up her bandaged hands as proof of point.

Robbie got to his feet and keeping his tone light told her, "Well despite the fact that it feels wrong, I'll get you a plate and some cutlery so that I don't have to sit and watch you starve in front of me-" His smile dropped again as he remembered that was exactly what Greg Martin had done, he saw from her expression that she was thinking the exact same thing. "Jackie, I-"

She held her hand up, silencing him. "Don't, I don't want to hear any apologies and I don't want you walking around on eggshells all the time. I'm not going to forget overnight, I know that but I don't want to be treated like some damaged invalid either."

He gave an almost sharp nod, his eyes studying her closely, he knew her well enough to know that sometimes pushing her to talk didn't help matters, in fact if anything it would have the opposite effect. "Ok then," he replied firmly. "But you still won't be able to reach up for those plates on your own, going to need a big strong man to help you," he teased.

Her lips twitched. "Oh, do you have one around here then?"

With that remark the tension from the room evaporated and placing his hand against his heart, Robbie told her, "How you wound me!"

"I'm confident that you'll make a full and speedy recovery."

"I'm not sure."

"Pizza will help," Jackie reassured him. "If you ever getting the plates down that is."

Rolling his eyes good naturedly, Robbie passed her a plate, replying dryly, "I'm still not eating pizza of a plate, not when it comes in one."

"I didn't expect any different from you. Cutlery?"

"Second drawer on your left." He pulled out her chair, watching as she slowly and painstakingly sat down. Taking her plate he asked, "How many slices?"

She raised her eyebrow at him. "Robbie, if you put four slices of pizza on that plate at once then how do you expect me to be able to cut anything up?"

He looked between the slices of pizza and the plate, replying, "With difficulty." His mouth quirked again and he added, "Just think if we were romantically involved I could feed you it."

"If we were a couple I would have most likely have murdered you by now, although if you don't hurry up and pass me that plate I might just do it anyway."

* * *

><p>Robbie couldn't sleep, his brain just couldn't switch off, the events of the last week running through his head as though they were on some God awful loop. He flipped over onto his right side, staring at his bedroom door, unable to relax when he knew Jackie was just through the next wall. He'd spent years pushing down any feelings towards her other than friendship, he'd ignored them and if he'd ever been pushed on the subject he would have denied that there was more than that between them with every fibre in her being. But all those feelings had hit him with the full force of a ten tonne truck when he'd seen her lying on that bed.<p>

He couldn't believe he'd been as stupid as to fall in love with the one woman who would never have him, he knew that without a doubt. Jackie would never take a risk on him, her walls were firmly up, she knew him too well, had seen the way he slept around, the way he backed off from any sign of commitment and she would never believe that he would change it all for her. Squeezing his eyes shut he tried to will himself to forget about it, to force himself to sleep, his feelings didn't matter, hers did and he could not have picked a worst time to realise just how deep his feelings for her ran. After what had happened it would be wrong of him to confess all to her, not when she was at her lowest ebb, and he wouldn't do it, no matter how much he wanted to.

His eyes shot open as he heard someone moving about his living room. Bolting upright he was out his bed in seconds and striding towards the door, flinging it open as he stepped out. It was the smash of a glass that he heard first before he looked up and saw Jackie's wide, shocked eyes. "Heard something," he mumbled as an explanation, "thought I better check it out, didn't mean to frighten you."

"Guess I'm jumpier than I thought I was," she admitted after a moment, "I just...I couldn't sleep and I thought that maybe a glass of water would help, didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't," Robbie told her, "you weren't the only one who couldn't sleep and you're not the only one who's jumpy."

Jackie's mouth quirked into a humourless smile, replying, "Ironic, isn't it? He's dead and still we don't relax, we're acting like he could appear back at any second."

He moved closer to her. "But he can't, we just need to remember that."

"Easier said than done."

"Always is."

"Yeah." Her eyes flickered over him, noticing that he was only in his boxers and a cotton t-shirt, he must be freezing, she decided. "Look I'll clean this up, you go back to bed."

"Leave it, we can get it in the morning, anyway I'm not that desperate to go back to staring at the ceiling. Come on, we can sit down and I'll pour us a whisky."

"Robbie your kitchen floor has glass all over it."

"That's alright, I don't keep my whisky or the glasses for it in there," he replied with a self satisfied grin. "And that glass will still be waiting for us in the morning."

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Jackie couldn't find it in herself to continue such a pointless argument and instead stepped over the mess, careful not stand on any of the small slithers that decorated the floor. Moving over to the sofa she lowered herself down and watched as he sloshed a generous measure of whisky into two glasses and passed her one before dropping down beside her. "Thanks," she muttered.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Robbie asked after a moment.

"Talk about what?" she asked, hoping that just maybe Robbie would drop the subject.

"About why you can't sleep, you look knackered, Jackie, like you haven't slept in a week."

"Cheers," she muttered, taking another sip of whisky before adding, "I haven't slept that well since..." She sighed and gave a bitter laugh. "I can't even say it, how stupid is that?"

"It's not stupid."

"Yes it is, I'm a police officer I should be able to talk about what happened."

"Just because we deal with these situations more than most it doesn't make us immune to them, to what they make us feel." He looked at the way she was hunched over, perched on the end of her sofa, so tense and so unlike herself. He placed a light hand on her shoulder, asking her softly, "Talk to me, Jackie?"

She bit down on her bottom lip, staring ahead of herself for a few seconds before she finally told him, "When I was in that room I didn't sleep, I couldn't, didn't shut my eyes until near the end of it all, but he did. He'd lie down next to me and just fall straight to sleep." Her lip curled as she added, "Just having him next to me made my skin crawl and even now when I know he's not there I still feel like he is. That empty space next to me, I just see him in it." She relaxed back into the sofa slightly and turned her head to look at him. "That sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

In that moment Robbie wanted nothing more than to drag Greg Martin back from the deepest circle of hell and beat him to a bloody pulp. "It's not stupid," he ground out.

"It's definitely pathetic."

He moved closer to her, his hand wrapping over hers. "Jackie, you are the least pathetic person I know. Other people would have just given up in that situation, but you didn't."

Taking in a shaky breath, Jackie admitted quietly, "Oh but I did."

Robbie frowned, shaking his head vehemently. "No, Martin told us that you fought him, that's how you got all the bruises, so you didn't give up."

"Maybe not at first but at the end," she nodded, "I did give up. I was so tired, everything hurt and I couldn't see another way out and I knew that if I closed my eyes I wouldn't wake up again...So I closed them."

His breath caught at that admission, he'd never expected to hear those words come out of her mouth, Jackie had always been a fighter. "But we were looking for you," he told her, his voice quieter than usual, weaker.

"I didn't think you'd find me, didn't see how you could," she confessed. "I couldn't take it anymore and I hate myself for it."

His heart thudded uncomfortably in his chest. "I'd never have stopped looking for you," he admitted quietly, his grip on her hand tightening, the words to tell her how much he needed her sitting on the tip of his tongue and in an attempt to keep them from tripping out he added hastily, "None of us would have. And you were sick, Jackie, you fought as long as you could."

"I'm not sure I did."

"Is that what's bothering you?"

"Partly."

"And because you feel like he's still there."

She rubbed at her eyes with her free hand. "Partly."

"Ok, anything I can do to help?"

Jackie smiled, this one reaching her eyes as she leaned back fully into the cushions, letting his arm drape across the back of her shoulders so that her head rested on his chest. "The fact that you want to help is enough," she replied.

They sat in silence, the time passing comfortably and Jackie could feel the heat of his body seep through his thin t-shirt, could smell the shower gel off his skin and for once that prickly feeling that had seemed to cover her entire skin for the last week now didn't completely disappear but it lessened slightly and for once she could shut her eyes and just let herself drop off.

Robbie watched as she fell asleep, shifting slightly so he could gently ease the empty glass from her fingers, placing it on the table across from them. He didn't want to move her, didn't want to disturb the rest she so obviously needed. So slowly and carefully he stretched back across the sofa, bringing her with him so that none of his weight was on her ribs. His own eyes felt heavy now and knowing that she was safe, that no-one could hurt her when she was here with him he let himself relax and just fall asleep.


End file.
